Annual Report and Accounts of The National Archives Annual Report and Accounts of The National Archives 2019-20

Including the Annual Report of the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives 2019-20 Annual Reports presented to Parliament pursuant to section 1(3) of the Public Records Act 1958 Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 Accounts presented to the House of Lords by Command of Her Majesty Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 21 July 2020

HC 402 This is part of a series of departmental publications which, along with the Main Estimates 2020-21 and the document *Public Expenditure: Statistical Analyses 2019*, present the government’s outturn for 2019-20 and planned expenditure for 2020-21. Preface

About the Annual Report and Accounts of The National Archives: This document combines performance and financial data with analysis to help readers better understand our work. It sets out how we spend taxpayers’ money to fulfil our remit as the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales. It covers our activities from April 2019 to March 2020 (inclusive), and is divided into three main sections.

The performance report and analysis (pages 5 to 29) includes a summary of progress and key activities (the performance overview), followed by our achievements over the year against each of the business priorities, and input and impact indicators (the performance analysis).

The accountability report (pages 30 to 68) includes an introductory statement from the Chair of our Board, and the Directors’ report sets out our operating structure and transparency matters such as inclusion and diversity, and whistle-blowing. It also includes:

- a statement of the Accounting Officer’s responsibilities
- a governance statement on how The National Archives manages risk
- a remuneration and staff report setting out an open account of the pay and benefits received by the executive directors and Non-executive Board members
- disclosures on pay and pensions policies, and details of staff numbers and costs
- a parliamentary accountability and audit report, allowing readers to understand the department’s expenditure against the money provided to it by Parliament along with the Statement of Parliamentary Supply
- a copy of the audit certificate and report made to Parliament by the Head of the National Audit Office, setting out their opinion on the financial statements.

The financial statements (pages 69 to 93) outline our income and expenditure for the financial year, the financial position of the department as of 31 March 2020, and additional information designed to enable readers to understand these results.

Annex A (pages 94 to 102) provides a detailed sustainability report, giving an overview of our activities during the financial year, our progress against Greening Government Commitments targets, and our plans for 2020-21.

Annex B (pages 103 to 116) contains the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives: 17th Annual Report 2019-20, which describes its role, work actioned in year, and details of the Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research.

Annex C (pages 117 to 119) contains the Annual Report of the Independent Complaints Reviewer, which sets out information on the service and standards, an overview of both the learning from complaints and customer feedback, and of complaint activity and examples.

# Contents

| 1. | Performance report | 5 | |----|-------------------|---| | 1.1 | Overview | 6 | | | Introduction | 6 | | | Who we are | 10 | | | Our audiences and the digital challenge | 12 | | 1.2 | Performance analysis | 22 | | | Financial management commentary | 22 | | | Performance against our business priorities | 23 | | | Performance against our input and impact indicators | 26 | | | Environment and sustainability | 29 |

| 2. | Accountability report | 30 | |----|-----------------------|---| | 2.1 | Corporate governance report | 31 | | | Statement from the Chair of The National Archives' Board | 31 | | | Directors' report | 32 | | | Governance statement | 35 | | | Statement of Accounting Officer's responsibilities | 45 | | 2.2 | Remuneration and staff report | 46 | | 2.3 | Parliamentary accountability and audit report | 58 | | | Statement of Parliamentary Supply | 58 | | | Audit certificate and report | 65 |

| 3. | Financial statements | 69 | |----|----------------------|---| | | Notes to the Departmental Resource Accounts | 74 |

| Annex A | Sustainability accounting and reporting | 94 | | Annex B | Advisory Council on National Records and Archives: 17th Annual Report 2019-20 | 103 | | Annex C | Annual Report of the Independent Complaints Reviewer for 2019-20 | 117 | Performance Report 1.1 Overview

Introduction from Chief Executive and Keeper

To the Right Honourable Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

This year’s Annual Report and Accounts for The National Archives 2019-20 marks the first year of our new strategy Archives for Everyone. Launched in June 2019, the strategy sets out our plans to become the 21st century national archive for the people and communities we serve, and tasks us with engaging broader, more diverse audiences with our collections, and those of archives across the country.

Reporting on our progress comes against the background of the global COVID-19 crisis. It is a challenging time for millions across the world, including the national and international archives community. In line with the UK Government’s advice, and for the first time in a generation, we closed our iconic and much loved building in Kew to the public on 17 March, and to staff on 21 March. It is inevitable that we will need to review our strategic priorities taking account of the impact of the crisis, and we cautiously approach this change with a degree of confidence due to our long-term investment in digital content. Our promise and potential are as great as ever and our ambition is undimmed, but how we realise Archives for Everyone will necessarily be different from how we originally envisaged it.

With this in mind, this report looks at our progress in the reporting year 2019-20, while acknowledging the challenges faced in the closing days of the period, and how this will affect our work and organisation for the foreseeable future.

Public engagement

Key to becoming an Archive for Everyone is developing meaningful public engagement programming for our audiences on site and online. In 2019, we delivered Protect and Survive: Britain’s Cold War Revealed, our largest and most ambitious exhibition to date. Our on site exhibition and supporting events attracted more than 22,000 people to Kew. During the season, we experimented with opening hours to provide new audiences with the opportunity to visit us, who would not otherwise have been able to participate. When we closed to the public in March, our latest exhibition – With Love – was suspended, as was our other on site public programming.

A proposed trial to adapt our on site document ordering services has also been delayed, and when we are able to return safely to Kew, we hope to restart the construction of two new embedded learning spaces. These spaces will be augmented following a pledge of £500,000 by the Clore Duffield Foundation, to the newly established independent charity, The National Archives Trust. Launched in February 2020, the Trust aims to promote the rich archival heritage held by us, and many other archives throughout the UK by supporting world-leading community, engagement and education programmes.

Throughout 2019-20, we continued to deliver our award-winning educational resources for school pupils and students, despite the suspension of our on site schools programme due to our closure. Since then, we have worked to make our online educational offer a reliable tool for home learning by developing and tailoring new and existing online resources. For as long as our Kew site remains closed to the public, we have also made our digital records freely available for everyone on our website.

Archives sector leadership The government’s strategic vision for the archives sector, Archives Unlocked, promotes the wide-ranging information and collections that archives hold, and advocates putting them within easier reach of users. With our partners, we are taking forward a workforce development strategy to address gaps in the sector, and to develop new ways to recruit diverse talent into the archive profession.

In December, we launched Plugged In, Powered Up, a comprehensive strategy of programmes, training and resources to support archives and address the gaps in vital digital skills. We delivered an ‘Archives School’ to train digital archivists and created a new online learning resource for practitioners in collaboration with the Digital Preservation Coalition.

We also launched Collaborate and Innovate, our new funding strand that focuses on empowering archives to use creativity and innovation to develop ideas and solutions. The growth of digital skills and capability will be essential as archives reimagine how they will deliver their services to the public, post pandemic.

In our capacity as leader of the archives sector in England, we know that there is a major risk of significant loss of archival heritage arising from the economic and social impact of the pandemic. Last year, the number of services so far accredited under the Archive Service Accreditation scheme reached more than 160, and they are actively maintaining their role as a crucial part of our dynamic network of archives. We distributed £660,000 of New Burdens funding to 43 local authorities who accessioned over 1.5 kilometres of public records. The funding has been used by services to sustain and develop their collections and enhance access.

Government information and legislation services Although transfers of public records from government departments to Kew were temporarily suspended on 18 March 2020, our fundamental statutory duties as a non-ministerial department and the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales, remain unchanged. Throughout 2019-20, we proactively supported the government in managing its digital information, taking a collaborative, user-focused approach with the government knowledge and information management profession and last year, we accessioned more than 72,800 government records transferred from over 36 public records bodies.

On behalf of the Secretary of State, we are leading a refresh of the Code of Practice issued under s.46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Code is a robust framework that provides for the successful management of records for business efficiency and corporate accountability. We continue to work with the Cabinet Office and our partners in the devolved nations on the Code in readiness for its eventual publication.

Our services for businesses, the legal sector and government departments are of crucial value to the public to be able to access the law, and to aid legal certainty. Earlier this year, we published all legislation dealing with the UK’s exit from the European Union on the legislation.gov.uk website. This includes what will become retained EU legislation. The website was updated to reflect the passage of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, with a timeline showing the transition period added where relevant. We also ensured that the European Communities Act 1972, the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 were fully up to date ahead of exit day. While the relevant date for the Queen's Printer duty to publish retained EU legislation was moved to the Implementation Period Completion date at the end of 2020, we fulfilled the specific ‘exit day’ duty on the Queen's Printer in the Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) Act 2020.

Providing free public access to up-to-date legislation makes a vital contribution to the rule of law in the UK. That is never more important than when government has to take extraordinary measures, as we have seen during the crisis. We ensured that the emergency COVID-19 legislation was published at unprecedented speed, for the first time registering and publishing a Statutory Instrument on a Saturday. We have also kept key COVID-19 regulations up to date with the latest changes to the law.

We ensured that the emergency COVID-19 legislation was published at unprecedented speed, for the first time registering and publishing a Statutory Instrument on a Saturday.

Record keeping always matters but never more so than when responding to a global pandemic. Each day we archived all key communications from the government through our web archiving capability. We also worked with the government and the devolved administrations to ensure all directions and notices under the Coronavirus Act 2020 were recorded and published in the relevant Gazette. The Gazette provides the official public record and is a reliable source of data about important events relating to the state, companies and people, including the COVID-19 crisis.

Research and collaboration Our leading-edge research and partnership work extended across the disciplines of history, digital humanities and heritage science, and involved the original historic record, born-digital and digitised collections.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), we are Co-Investigator on AI for Digilab, a UK-US network project. We are delighted to be one of the founding partners for the second phase of Beyond 2022, a collaboration led by Trinity College Dublin to build a Virtual Record Treasury for Irish History, funded by the Irish Government. We were also awarded funding to lead two foundational projects through the government-supported research programme Towards a National Collection: Opening UK Heritage to the World led by the AHRC.

International work Last year, we continued to work with our international partners, peers and other organisations. As members of the International Council on Archives (ICA) and in our role in leading the Forum of National Archivists (FAN), we participated in archival forums and groups, and collaborated with other institutions across the globe on solutions to digital innovation and preservation.

Most recently, we joined the ICA’s Archives are Accessible initiative which champions why archives are vital to keeping businesses and government moving through new service delivery models and realities. Our plans to host a FAN meeting at Kew in April 2020 were postponed. Meanwhile, we are working with the ICA to promote the significant value and contribution archives can make to international records management best practice, especially in informing how decisions are documented, and how records are secured and maintained – now and after the crisis.

Collecting the records for future generations to understand the pandemic has been at the forefront of many discussions. The response from archives across the globe, and specifically in the UK, has been uplifting, and is testament to how the sector has evolved and adapted over the last century. Now, perhaps more than at any time in living memory, it is crucial to protect and support archives of all kinds so that they are able to fulfil their vital role in the understanding of this period of history.

The enthusiasm and spirit of everyone who works for archives, and those who use our services, is essential to our navigating this unprecedented time, when our personal and professional lives will be transformed.

The dedication and professionalism of our staff, our volunteers, Friends of The National Archives, and partners throughout the reporting period – both before and during the crisis – have been key to our achievements.

The dedication and professionalism of our staff, our volunteers, Friends of The National Archives, and partners throughout the reporting period – both before and during the crisis – have been key to our achievements. Their continued support will be at the heart of what comes next, and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for what they have done to date, and what they will do over the coming weeks and months.

Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper, 16 July 2020 Who we are

The National Archives is a non-ministerial department and the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales. We work to bring together and secure the future of the public record, both digital and physical, for future generations. Our collection is accessible to anyone all over the world.

We are many things to many audiences:

- For government, we are the custodian of the public record and trusted experts in managing, preserving, using and re-using information.

- For the public, we provide access to more than 1,000 years of the nation’s histories and connect people and communities with the millions of stories contained in our collection.

- For the archives sector, we provide leadership and support, helping archives to build the skills and capacity needed to sustain the nation’s archival heritage.

- For the academic community and others engaged in scholarly research, we offer opportunities for working together across a broad range of disciplines – to provide solutions to our key challenges, and to open up greater access to our collection.

We are an essential resource for our democracy, a public good and an asset for future generations. Our historic mission endures: to collect and preserve the record, to use our expertise and knowledge to connect people with their history through our unrivalled collections, and to lead, partner and support archives at home and worldwide.

Our conviction is that archives are for everyone, and that archives change lives for the better. As the living, growing home of our national stories, our obligation is to connect with the biggest and most diverse audience possible, in the most innovative ways we can. To honour this obligation we must become a new kind of cultural and heritage institution. Our strategic vision, Archives for Everyone, describes the 21st century national archive: inclusive, entrepreneurial and disruptive.

The inclusive archive builds trust and tears down barriers to access, participation and understanding. It harnesses talent from diverse backgrounds. It is bold, active and outward-looking – encountered by people and communities in unexpected places and at vital moments.

The entrepreneurial archive creates and realises value at home and across the globe. Operating flexibly and fearlessly, it is adept at finding and exploiting commercial, research and philanthropic funding opportunities – opening out and promoting its collection.

The disruptive archive changes everything. Constantly adapting, it rethinks and reshapes its practice to meet its contemporary and future challenges. Developing new skills and exploiting emerging technology, the disruptive archive reaffirms and transforms its historic mission for the digital age, from creation to presentation.

As the inclusive, entrepreneurial and disruptive 21st century national archive, we continue to work with and for our major audiences and to meet our biggest strategic challenges. While the global pandemic does impact our operations and strategic ambitions, as a government department, we are obligated to contribute to the wider government response, while looking ahead to what might come next due to the long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Our fresh understanding of our capabilities provides us with the opportunity to innovate and make radical changes to the way we work, and the services we provide, to meet head-on the changed expectations of our audiences.

We have already started to reimagine both our ability to deliver on our statutory and non-statutory duties, and our ability to make progress towards the long-term vision set out in *Archives for Everyone*. Our audiences and the digital challenge

For government, we provide expert advice and scrutiny, ensuring that the record survives and thrives

- Throughout the year, we accessioned more than 72,800 government records transferred from over 36 public records bodies, including:

  - Files from the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister’s Office covering events in 1995 and 1996.
  - Records of the Commonwealth Institute, including some relating to the iconic building in Kensington that is now the home of the Design Museum.
  - Foreign & Commonwealth Office Information Research Department files covering activities to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War.
  - Items from the Ministry of Defence Art Collection.
  - Original publicity artwork from the Post Office Savings Department ‘Wherever You Go’ series.

- We proactively supported the UK Government’s approach in managing its digital information, to ensure the ultimate survival of the digital historic public record. This includes engaging with commercial technology companies who are providing the current infrastructure for corporate government information. We are taking a collaborative, user-focused approach with the government knowledge and information management (GKIM) profession, with the aim that all civil servants can discharge their record-keeping duties; particularly via new information platforms that are allowing for smarter and better ways of working.

- The COVID-19 crisis has impacted the physical transfer of records to The National Archives and legal places of deposit. These delays will have an adverse effect on the UK Government’s policy to transition to the 20-year rule by 2023 for central government. We will assess the impact and put a plan in place to address the impact in due course.

- In relation to nuclear information records that we hold, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is working in collaboration with colleagues from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AwE) to undertake a security review. All of the related files, the AB and ES references in our online catalogue Discovery, were changed to ‘access under review’ status in July and November 2018 respectively. As part of the review process, a collection of records (including many relating to the early development of military and civil nuclear technology) were temporarily withdrawn from general access.

  - A review programme is in place and there has been initial progress, with the return of more than 8,200 records to their original access status. This work continues; however, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis will slow progress in the short term.

- We continued our work to bring primary legislation on legislation.gov.uk fully up to date, increasing the proportion of up-

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1 The transition to the 20-year rule for records of local interest is 2025. 2 8,052 AB and 194 ES were returned to public access and made orderable on Discovery on 2 May 2020. to-date Acts to 99.5% by applying 63,288 amendments to the texts during the year.

One of our key milestones was in aiding legal certainty for the UK’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020, by undertaking a wide range of activities. We published all the legislation that Parliament enacted and that the government made for departure on legislation.gov.uk. We also updated key Acts and Statutory Instruments, such as the European Communities Act 1972 and The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

- We published the texts of what becomes retained EU legislation at the end of the transition period, as part of an expanded legislation.gov.uk service covering all the applicable law post exit. We identified 87,500 amendments made by UK legislation for EU Exit and brought information about these changes together with the texts. A timeline was added to legislation.gov.uk, initially to show Exit Day, and later to show the transition period. We compiled an archive of European law as it stood on Exit Day, for each possible exit date, from the relevant parts of the EUR-Lex website, using our web archiving technology.

- We regularly web archived the GOV.UK website and other key communication channels during the EU Exit period. We also undertook extensive capturing of the government web estate as it stood immediately before the December General Election. This process went very smoothly, building on our recent experiences in 2017 and 2015.

Our Head of Legislation Services was shortlisted for the Civil Service Awards in the ‘Project Delivery Excellence’ category, for our EU Exit work.

- On a daily basis, we archived all key communications from the government about the Coronavirus as part of the public record, through our web archiving capability. This includes GOV.UK, NHS.UK and government communications on social media.

  - Our Legislation Services provided an expanded remote service to government for registering and publishing emergency Statutory Instruments (SIs), seven days per week. We worked closely with partners across government and issued a joint communication to departments regarding the process for publishing emergency SIs. We ensured that a rapid and efficient service for updating legislation.gov.uk was in place, including the changes made by the Coronavirus Bill.

  - We superintend The Gazette concession, which provides an official public record and a reliable source of data about important events relating to the state, companies and people. There were new requirements to place notices in The Gazette, including the serious and imminent threat declaration under The Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020. Since 1 January, we started to manage a new concessionary contract for The Gazette. The new contract sees various service developments and an improved return for the taxpayer.

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3 The Chief Executive of The National Archives is Keeper of Public Records and holds the offices of Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament and Queen’s Printer for Scotland. They are also appointed as the Government Printer for Northern Ireland and Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Separately, working with our partners – the Houses of Parliament, Scottish Parliament, and the drafting offices for UK and Scottish legislation – we developed the first working version of a browser-based Legislation Drafting, Amending and Publishing tool. This was used to draft, amend and publish the UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020.

On behalf of the Secretary of State, we are leading a refresh of the Code of Practice issued under s.46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). The Code provides an effective framework for the successful management of records for business efficiency and corporate accountability. The Code is wide ranging and its provisions apply to all authorities subject to FOIA and not just public record bodies.

- In line with the Secretary of State’s statutory responsibility under the Act, we consulted with the Cabinet Office, Information Commissioner’s Office and the relevant Northern Ireland Minister in drafting a new Code. Beyond that, we have been working with the information management community across Whitehall, as well as the wider public sector, academia and law enforcement to harness their expertise. We will ask that a public consultation takes place from the Secretary of State. The unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic means this is likely to be postponed to later in the year.

For the public, we work to inspire new ways for people to use and experience our diverse collection.

- Our Protect and Survive: Britain’s Cold War Revealed season and exhibition attracted more than 22,000 visitors to our site. The season featured events for all age groups, including our Time Travel Club Family programme digital trail, and participation in ‘The Big Draw’ where a replica of the Berlin Wall was the canvas for creativity and messages of wellbeing and hope. We also welcomed guest speakers such as Sir Michael Palin and Dame Stella Rimington.

- At Christmas, we explored a period of time when centuries-old traditions were forced to go underground. Our 1657: Rebel Christmas exhibition offered an immersive experience with a recreated apothecary shop, and sights and smells of an underground workshop. On Valentine’s Day, we opened our With Love exhibition which explored the diversity of love to be found in letters and wills in 500 years of our records.

- We experimented with increased opening hours to appeal to new audiences, providing visitors the opportunity to see our exhibitions and take part in activities designed for all the family. In all, we attracted more than 21,000 first-time visitors.

- Our sell-out repository tours took more than 600 people behind the scenes. Groups this year included the Jewish Deaf Association, the Rainbow Club, a supplementary school run by Action for Refugees in Lewisham and a group of Blue Badge Tourist Guides.

- We increased the reach of our public engagement activities with presence on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row programme, and several filming events including a feature on Domesday, and our participation in nationwide activities including ‘Ask a Conservator Day’ and ‘Volunteers’ Week’.

- For the first time, we hosted a government inquiry on site in a dedicated secure reading room area. Approximately 10,448 documents for the inquiry were viewed.

- We have been working with the Young Historians Project (YHP), a non-profit organisation that encourages the development of young historians of African and Caribbean heritage in Britain, facilitating their research into African women and the health service. Among their project outputs, the YHP plan to contribute to our blog on our website.

- We continue to showcase our collection through our loans programme, including to exhibitions in the UK, Europe, the US and Singapore, enabling access to our collections to more than 1.25 million visitors.

- Our education services continue to grow and strengthen. Last year we taught approximately 11,160 students (430 groups). We also hosted a welcoming and well-informed SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) programme.

  - We developed new targeted online resources: Significant People for key stages 1 and 2; Crime and Victorian railways, and a lesson on Walter Tull, the first black officer (and professional footballer player) to lead a regiment during the First World War. The latter included questions devised by children from Crane Park Primary School.

  - In April 2020, we welcomed children, parents and teachers from The Rainbow Club, a supplementary school, part of Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL) that works with children aged between 4 and 11 years from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. AFRIL works to support these children with their English and Maths and promote a broader curiosity for learning. The children took part in workshops, exploring themes of fun and food in the files.

  - We partnered with Anstee Bridge, an alternative learning and support programme for young people aged from 14 to 16 years who are facing emotional struggles. Via a National Lottery Heritage Fund partnership, the young people engaged with our documents and participated in creative activities inspired by their research into the creation of the NHS. Their work was showcased at an on site event on the evening of the 71st anniversary of the NHS. ‘Beyond the Glitter’ was an evening of celebration, featuring a drama performance ‘SCAR’ and an exhibition of the young people’s work.

  - Our fourth stop motion animation project ‘Mental Health on Record’ used a range of records from our collection to inspire a group of 16 to 19 year-olds as they learned about attitudes to mental health in the past. The project was supported by funding from The Friends of The National Archives, and we worked with partners Richmond Borough Mind and Mental Health First Aid England. The film premiered during an event at Kew.

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4 This figure takes into account cancellations owing to the COVID-19 crisis. Had these cancellations not taken place we would have taught approximately 11,806 students (448 groups). For the first time, we ran a creative careers event, which offered school students an opportunity to better understand the work of an archive. Students were provided with a wide range of archival career opportunities, including events and exhibitions, customer services, collection care and digital preservation.

Kids took over the archive in November when we participated in the nationwide Kids in Museums event. Dozens of children worked alongside staff – and pleasantly surprised our users – as their recorded messages were heard across the building. The students brought their teachers, parents and carers back for an open evening where they displayed their own boxes of archives to showcase ‘why archives matter’.

We launched a new brand and visual identity aligned to our new strategy that is adaptable for a digital age and our ambitions to engage with a broader and diverse audience. The new branding, designed by Hemingway Design, is gradually being adopted and is the first time we have rebranded since 2003.

We are reaching almost 249,000 subscribers through our mailing list and more than 252,000 followers across a variety of social media channels and feeds.

In March, we planned to start a six-month trial of new document ordering arrangements. The trial would have seen us test a service that builds on our advance and bulk order services. The proposal would allow researchers to order a total of up to 24 documents a day; 12 orders in advance and 12 on demand, and introducing dedicated ordering slots. The announcement prompted some questions and concerns from readers. The trial has now been delayed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it goes live, it will be evaluated throughout before any final decisions are made.

We celebrated key milestones of two longstanding volunteer projects HO 17 (Home Office: Criminal Petitions Series 1) and ADM 106 (The Navy Board Project). The work of committed volunteers spanning decades has been significant in opening up these records for researchers.

Our volunteers led on cataloguing the series WO 416, which involved opening up individuals named in the British and Allied Prisoners of War record cards who were captured in occupied German territory during the Second World War. By the end of the (financial) year more than 120,000 records were catalogued (97,000 of them open) from an estimated total of 195,000. In this year alone, over 55,000 records were catalogued, twice as much as any other record series. The project is on target to finish in 2022.

In October, we were privileged to be selected as the first archive to host the annual London Heritage Volunteer awards. The evening held on site was a vibrant celebration of the importance and contribution of volunteers right across the heritage sector, including our own volunteers.

The Friends of The National Archives continued to support us in a variety of ways, from volunteering, events and through funding innovative public programmes. We would like to thank the Friends, and all of our on site and online volunteers, for helping us to achieve our goals. We continue to maintain world-class environmental stewardship of our site and grounds. During 2019-20, we reduced the environmental impact of our operations, and achieved a 74% reduction in carbon emissions compared with the baseline year of 2009-10 against the government target of a 32% reduction. Read more in the environment and sustainability section of this report (page 29), and in Annex A – Sustainability accounting and reporting (page 94).

A review of our complaints handling performance found that we ‘deliver a gold standard complaints service’. This saw a reduction in the number of complaints received by almost half. While a reduction in complaints cannot on its own be equated to an improvement in service, it occurred alongside an increase in compliments. Read the Annual Report of the Independent Complaints Reviewer, Annex C, on pages 117 to 119 for the full report.

In February, the National Archives Trust (registered charity no. 1187839) was launched. The Trust aims to support world-leading education and engagement programmes inspired by the collections held at Kew and by many other archives throughout the country. The Trust is an independent body and we intend to work closely with them in the coming months.

For the archives sector, we are an effective leader and collaborator, and support archives of all kinds to sustain and develop their services

Bridging the Digital Gap is our training programme funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund to create 24 paid technical trainees in archives around the UK. Bringing new and relevant skills into the sector, the programme is in its second year, the first cohort of eight trainees completed the programme; a further eight are currently under way.

As part of delivering Archives Unlocked, the UK Government’s strategic vision for archives across England, we continue to deliver against our workforce development strategy. We are well under way with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s process for the creation of a new Level 7 Apprenticeship for Archivist and Records Manager to open up new routes of entry into the profession. We have recruited an Inclusion and Change Manager to support our work in addressing the lack of diversity in the profession and archives audiences.

In December, we launched our new Digital Capacity Building programme for the sector, Plugged In, Powered Up. The well-received strategy sets out an ambitious plan of programmes, training and resources to support archives to meet their digital ambitions and address the gaps in vital skills. It sets out a plan for three business years of work and will be delivered from 2019 to 2022. We delivered an Archives School programme for digital archivists and we are collaborating with the Digital Preservation Coalition on the creation of a new online learning resource for practitioners.

Manage Your Collections (MYC) is a service that allows archive services to add, edit, delete and store information about their own collections in our online catalogue, Discovery. We currently have 202 archives using the service and there were 1,213 collections added to Discovery by UK archives using MYC in the period April to March 2020. We held four MYC workshops delivering training on the tool to more than 65 people. Archive Service Accreditation has passed another significant milestone, with some archive services who received the first ever awards in November 2013 completing the cycle and submitting their second applications, to retain the award after six years. More than 160 services are now accredited. The programme’s governing committee has been refreshed, with many original members reaching the end of their terms. We were delighted at the level of applications for vacancies on the committee, showing the accreditation scheme’s high profile across the archive sector.

Archives Revealed is a partnership programme between The National Archives and the Pilgrim Trust. The programme is generously supported by the Wolfson Foundation and ‘29th May 1961 Charitable Trust’.

- Cataloguing Grants are for archives to create catalogues of important archival collections. This year, £300,000 in cataloguing grants were awarded to nine organisations.

- Scoping Grants are micro-grants that provide funding for organisations who hold archives and wish to assess the potential importance of a collection, alongside developing plans to address key issues relating to access, conservation and future public engagement. This year, £36,000 in scoping grants were awarded to 12 organisations.

We launched Collaborate and Innovate, our new funding which will empower archives to develop creative ideas and collaborative approaches, as well as network development, leading to outcomes that will make a real difference to archives in the UK.

We distributed £660,000 of New Burdens funding to 43 local authority places of deposit, who accessioned over 1.5 kilometres of public records. The funding supported a number of projects and other improvements. See the Appendix on page 119 for a full list of local places of deposit who received New Burdens Funding during 2019-20.

We celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) with a programme of visits and events. In June, we hosted an event in Parliament to celebrate the successes of the HMC, and in October, a symposium on the legacy and future of the HMC, and a seminar on mitigating and understanding risks. The Chief Executive in his capacity as Historical Manuscripts Commissioner also visited a broad range of archives across and the UK. The breadth and depth of archives has been reflected in the visits, which ranged from local record offices to charities, religious archives, university special collections and business archives. A special HMC anniversary edition of the British Records and Archives journal Archives will be published in due course.

Our international work and relationships across the global archival communities continue to develop. As members of the International Council on Archives (ICA) and

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5 As at 31 March 2020.

6 1) Doncaster Deaf Trust, 2) Govanhill Baths Community Trust, 3) Scouts Scotland, 4) International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC), 5) Harvey’s Foundry Trust, 6) The Royal Life Saving Society, 7) The New Vic Theatre, 8) EMI Archive Trust, 9) Salford Community Leisure, 10) New Contemporaries, 11) Union Chapel, 12) Museum of London Docklands: Port of London Authority Archive. in leading the Forum of National Archivists (FAN), we participated in archival forums and groups, and worked in partnership with other institutions across the globe on solutions to digital innovation and preservation. We took part in the ICA’s annual conference in Adelaide. Its theme ‘Designing the Archive’ focused on putting people at the centre of what archives do.

- Our plans to host the next FAN meeting on site were postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, working with the ICA, we are promoting the significant value and contribution archives can make to international records management best practice, especially in informing how decisions are documented, and how records are secured and maintained. With archives across the world, we have joined the Archives are Accessible initiative which sets out why archives are vital to keeping businesses and government moving through new service delivery models and realities.

For academic and researchers, we lead, enable and inspire pioneering research through fostering community, collaborative engagement, and inclusive practice. We work to generate new knowledge and drive progress for archives, the wider community and society as a whole.

- We focused on strengthening our research profile and building on our status as an Independent Research Organisation. We are Co-Investigator on an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded project, AI for Digilab – a UK-US network project with Nottingham Trent University, The National Gallery (UK), the Getty Conservation Institute, Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, and the University of Southern Maine. For this research, our map collection will be used as one of the case studies. The project gives us access to a wealth of analytical instruments, and in particular, scanning analysis. The data created will be fed through a proposed online machine learning-enabled analysis platform (part of the UK/E-RIHS Digilab initiative) and led by the National Gallery.

- Building on the success of recent years, we have further invested in our analytical infrastructure by purchasing a Fibre Optic Reflectance Spectrometer to enhance our capability of analysing organic materials.

- We joined Linked Conservation Data as a partner organisation, another AHRC funded UK-US network project under the lead of the University of Arts London. This project will enable accessibility of conservation records and has been granted a funded extension.

- We partnered in the ArcHives: Unlocking the ancient beeswax record project, funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. The aim of ArcHives is to use wax as a biomolecular archive to inform the geographic origin of beeswax (and bees), the changing diversity of the hive microbiome in modern and historical beeswax; and the DNA of individuals associated with the production of the legal documents trapped in kneaded wax.

- We are due to begin our involvement in the second phase of Beyond 2022, the rebuilding of an open-access, virtual reconstruction of the Irish Treasury destroyed in 1922. This project is an all-island and international collaboration between our Core Partners: The National Archives (Ireland); the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Belfast); the Irish Manuscripts Commission & the Library, Trinity College Dublin; and a growing list of Participating Institutions in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

- We enjoyed success with two foundational projects funded through *Towards a National Collection: Opening UK Heritage to the World*, supported by the government-backed Strategic Priorities Fund, led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council:

  - £250,000 for Deep Discoveries, a collaboration with the University of Surrey’s Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing, V&A and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, that aims to create a computer vision search platform that can identify and match images across digitised collections on a national scale.
  - £274,000 for *Engaging Crowds: citizen research and heritage data at scale*, with partners at the University of Oxford’s Zooniverse, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and Royal Museums Greenwich. *Engaging Crowds* seeks to harness the capabilities of people-powered research to enrich understanding of cultural heritage collections through digitally enabled participation.

- In April 2019, Dr Safiya Umoja Noble delivered our annual digital lecture where she discussed her book *Algorithms of Oppression* and shed light on the impact of marginalization and misrepresentation in commercial information platforms. The lecture scheduled for April 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

- The seventh annual *Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities* conference, delivered jointly with Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and new partners Jisc, took place at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre. The conference theme, ‘Navigating the Digital Shift’ brought together delegates from across the archive, library, museum and academic communities.

- Three new collaborative PhD students started this year, funded through the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership and Doctoral Training Partnership programmes. We work with colleagues to enhance research skills across The National Archives, including through our Researcher Development Programme and Machine Learning courses.

- We share knowledge and best practice across the library and archive sectors through our popular RLUK-The National Archives Professional Development Fellowships programme. Disseminating our research is an important part of our role, and colleagues regularly publish in academic journals and speak at conferences in disciplines including history, social science, heritage science, computer science, information and archival science.

**Over the last few years, we have made important changes to the ways we think and work in order to become a digital archive by instinct and design**

- Working closely with a supplier, we delivered *Project Alpha*, a working prototype for a new website. Too few people encounter us directly when using the web, and first-time users (in particular) have told us that they are confused by the experience. To meet our users’ high and rising expectations, we are making some significant changes to our website, to better engage our audiences and remain relevant. Project Alpha has helped move us towards a more generous interface design that can help and support users explore our collection.

- We developed our capability as a digital archive and created an alpha version of a new Transfer Digital Records service for government departments. We also reduced risks to our digital holdings by migrating more than 90 million digital images of records from perishable media to reliable storage.7

- We reinforced our commitment to PRONOM, our register of file format signatures, running the first PRONOM Week, to galvanise community efforts to create new signatures.

- Our digital records were exposed to a new source of risk, as we discovered a key supplier was planning to cease support for a crucial piece of software required to operate the digital tape library where we store digital records. We explored various options and introduced an alternative software solution to mitigate this risk. We learned that the economics of the storage industry means that supplier solutions are not closely aligned with our longer-term archival needs and this is likely to be an ongoing source of risk to the digital collection that we will need to mitigate.

- To better understand and manage the impact of changes in technology, we developed a Theory of Technological Change for the digital archive, sharing this with other archives through the DLM Forum.8 We also started to develop a digital preservation risk model using Bayesian Network, winning £93k of funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop the model collaboratively, working with experts from the Applied Statistics and Risk Unit at the University of Warwick.

- We are an active and contributing member of the Digital Preservation Coalition, the DLM Forum and the Open Preservation Foundation, as well as continuing to participate in the Archives Portal Europe Foundation.

- A technical paper about the Archangel research project, which investigated using blockchain for trusted archives, won the best paper award at the prestigious CVPR 2019 Blockchain conference. The paper describes the fusion of AI and Blockchain technology to create the world’s first international blockchain for digital preservation. The project was a collaboration between the University of Surrey, the Open Data Institute and The National Archives.

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7 This figure was accurate as at 31 March 2020 (actual total: 91,703,314 images). The final figure would have been 114,703,314 had the migration been completed before The National Archives closed in March in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

8 The DLM Forum is a membership community of public archives and parties interested in archives, records and information management throughout Europe. 1.2 Performance analysis

Financial management commentary

The National Archives’ continues to manage its resources effectively, with sound financial control frameworks and a strong organisational engagement with its fiduciary duties.

Our net resource and capital outturn was £38.8m compared to a budget allocation of £40.8m. Total expenditure was 4.9% below our allocation. The outturn was affected by certain projects not being completed as planned, owing to supply chain constraints arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The depreciation charge was also impacted as the indices used to revalue the properties fell towards the end of the year resulting in a lower depreciation charge than anticipated.

Expenditure

The total costs of delivering our remit as the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales, was £49.5m, which is below our original budget of £50.7m. This variance is primarily due to the lower than anticipated depreciation charge on our buildings.

Staff costs were £24.5m compared to £23.2m in the previous year, due largely to the increase in pension costs during the year. Further information can be found in the staff report on page 46.

Operating expenditure excluding staff costs and depreciation was £18.7m (2018-19: £15.1m). This increase is mainly due to recognition of expenditure in accordance with IFRS 15 on a software development contract that was completed in the financial year.

Income

Operating income for the financial year was £13.5m (2018-19: £10.3m). The increase relates primarily to the aforementioned software development contract that was completed in the year.

Net operating expenditure

As a result of the above, net operating expenditure shown on the Statement of Comprehensive Expenditure for the year was £36.0m.

Capital

The total capital expenditure of £2.8m in the financial year (2018-19: £2.8m) was £0.4m below the budgeted amount of £3.2m. The outturn was affected by our closure and supply chain challenges arising from the COVID-19 crisis.

Financial position

Assets and liabilities are shown in the Statement of Financial Position on page 71. Assets less liabilities totalled £190.2m as at 31 March 2020 (2018-19: £190.2m).

Total assets as at 31 March 2020 were £196.9m (2018-19: £199.0m). Property, plant and equipment and intangible assets represented 98% of the asset value (2018-19: 97%). COVID-19 has impacted property markets with market activity being affected in many sectors, resulting in less certainty attaching to the land and buildings valuation than would otherwise be the case.

Total current assets as at 31 March 2020 were £4.7m (2018-19: £6.1m). Trade and other receivables reduced from £3.4m to £1.2m, principally due to the receipt of income on the software development contract.

Total liabilities were £6.7m as at 31 March 2020 (2018-19: £8.5m). Contract liabilities reduced from £1.3m to £0.2m due to the level of works performed for revenue generating contracts, and revenue recognised in the current year in accordance with IFRS 15. Trade and other payables reduced from £2.0m to £1.0m, due to the lower level of activity in the final quarter of the year.

Financial outlook Uncertainties arising from the COVID-19 crisis have necessitated, and will continue to require, more frequent and agile forecasting. Current assumptions are that we will be able to absorb an expected drop in site based income by off-setting site-based expenditure savings and recruitment delays. The majority of our commercial income is derived from digital exploitation of our intangible assets rather than a reliance on the Kew estate and hence less susceptible to being impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, the outcome from the forthcoming Spending Review will be pivotal in determining the pace at which we can continue to deliver the strategic objectives outlined in Archives for Everyone.

Performance against our business priorities

| Goal | How we were to achieve this | Status | |----------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Change the culture and approach of The National Archives so that in all we do we better reflect and represent the society we serve. | We will improve representation of both staff and users by compiling and publishing our corporate equality, diversity and inclusion action plan and introducing targeted Positive Action in our recruitment campaigns. | Not achieved. Although progress was made, we have not yet published our action plan. Following Executive Team and Board diversity and inclusion workshops, we have redefined our approach to delivering this goal in 2020-21. | | | We will roll out our new visual identity, a fresh tone of voice and visual language across multiple platforms. | Achieved. | | Curate unique national moments of public inspiration and participation, including through the launch of the 1921 Census – the UK’s largest ever online release of historical records. | We will launch and deliver our Cold War programme, opening our exhibition Protect & Survive and delivering high-profile events on site and on digital platforms. | Achieved. | | Create new, inclusive and exciting spaces, physical and virtual, in which people can encounter our collection afresh – partnering with The National Archives Trust to widen the public experience and understanding of archives and our history. | We will work in partnership with The National Archives Trust and deliver a phased programme for transforming our public spaces to provide a more welcoming experience to visitors. | Partially achieved. The technical design and tender stages were more complicated and lengthier than allowed for in the original schedule. Completion of the new learning spaces has therefore extended into 2020-21 with handover due in June/July 2020. | | --- | --- | --- | | We will experiment with new ways of attracting non-research visitors, and develop our onsite offer to ensure that they have a good experience and end their visit feeling that The National Archives is for them. | Achieved. | | | Lead the archives sector to fulfil the vision set out in *Archives Unlocked*, promoting our shared values of trust, enrichment and openness. | We will implement the *Archives Unlocked* Workforce Development strategy to create a more diverse and inclusive sector. | Achieved. | | We will develop the *Archives Unlocked* Digital Capacity strategy, and establish ourselves as a ‘Teaching Archive’ where archivists can gain hands-on experience managing digital records, delivering a pilot course. | Achieved. | | Generate from our collection and expertise the cutting-edge research opportunities and commercial offers that will realise value and open out more of our collection. | We will transform our culture, explore commercial opportunities and seek freedoms to deliver the revenue and contribution growth envisaged in our Commercial Strategy. | Achieved. | |---|---|---| | We will enhance our research capability, work with partners to develop funded research bids and deliver academic events that address our research priorities. | Achieved. | | Secure the future of the government record as an essential resource for public servants and the people – providing legal certainty through legislation.gov.uk and historical perspective through our collection. | We will lead work to revise the statutory Code of Practice on the management of records and create a new digital service for government departments to transfer records to The National Archives, with at least one transfer made using a working prototype of the new service. | Partially achieved. Final clearances, consultation and publication delayed owing to COVID-19-related service disruption. A prototype transfer of a digital records service was completed. | | We will aid legal certainty as the UK exits the European Union by developing legislation.gov.uk and the Web Archive, extending the scope of the revised legislation on legislation.gov.uk and qualitatively improving the user experience of both services. | Achieved. | | **Lead the world in reimagining archival practice for the 21st century, pioneering new and ethical approaches to appraisal and selection, description, digital preservation and access.** | We will research, develop and publish new practices for managing preservation risk over time, including a theory of technological change for the digital archive. | Partially achieved. We researched and developed new practices including a first version of a digital preservation risk model. We presented a theory of technological change to other archives but final publication was delayed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. | |---|---|---| | We will seek to win funding to develop an ultra-low cost, bare bones digital preservation solution that could be deployed by archives worldwide. | Not achieved. Submission of a funding bid was postponed owing to the impact of COVID-19 on funders’ priorities. |

**Performance against our input and impact indicators**

Our input and impact indicators demonstrate our overall performance as an organisation, our commitment to quality, and illustrate evidence of the effectiveness of the priorities set out in our business plan. They are presented as year-on-year comparisons so that we can track our progress within any given year.

To ensure we can be held accountable as we move forward in delivering our strategic priorities, underpinned by the government’s Transparency agenda, we also publish a number of discretionary (non-financial) indicators on our website, which include staff engagement and diversity.

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Our input and impact indicators demonstrate our overall performance as an organisation, our commitment to quality, and illustrate evidence of the effectiveness of the priorities set out in our business plan.

## Performance against our input indicators

| Input indicator | 2019-20 Outcome | 2018-19 Outcome | |------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|-----------------| | Original records delivered to on site users | 508,284⁹ | 518,593 | | Electronic records delivered to online users | 371,728,677 | 274,332,549 | | Staff diversity: | | | | Women | 52.6% (average) | 50.5% (average) | | Top management women | 52.9% (average) | 50.0% (average) | | Black and Minority Ethnic | 17.8% (average) | 18.8% (average) | | Disabled | 5.8% (average) | 9.9% (average) | | Staff engagement (as reported by the Civil Service People Survey) | 71% | 67% | | Time taken to deliver original records to on site users | 93% of documents delivered to users within one hour | 95% of documents delivered to users within one hour | | Time taken to respond to Freedom of Information, and Environmental Information Regulation requests | 91% of enquiries responded to within statutory deadlines | 95% of enquiries responded to within statutory deadlines | | Total departmental spend | £32.6 million | £30.8 million |

| Input indicator | 2019-20 Outcome | 2018-19 Outcome | |------------------------------------------------------|-----------------|-----------------| | Staff sick absence | 6.1 days per member of staff (average) | 5.1 days per member of staff (average) | | Outstanding effects on legislation.gov.uk | 63,288 amendments applied to primary legislation on legislation.gov.uk | 62,129 amendments applied to primary legislation on legislation.gov.uk | | Number of physical records accessioned | 72,899 pieces 2,018 metres | 69,974 pieces 1,343 metres |

⁹ An estimated 22,000 original document productions were lost in March 2020 due to the closure of the building in light of the COVID-19 crisis

## Performance against our impact indicators

| Input indicator | 2019-20 Outcome | 2018-19 Outcome | |-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| | **Web continuity**<sup>10</sup> | Web Archive Services – Sessions\
Total: 3.8 million\
Web Archive Services – Users\
Total: 3 million | Visits to the UK Government Web Archive:\
Total 5 million\
Visitors to the UK Government Web Archive:\
Total 3.9 million | | **Customer satisfaction %** | | | | **On site users** | 87% | 92% | | **Online users** | 53% | 64% | | **legislation.gov.uk users**<sup>11</sup> | 79% | N/A | | **Records and information management services used across government**<sup>12</sup> | 2 Information Management Assessments completed\
2 Information Management Assessment reports published\
1 action plan published\
1 annual review report published\
3 formal review meetings undertaken | 2 Information Management Assessments completed\
1 Information Management Assessment report published\
1 action plan published\
1 annual review report published\
2 formal review meetings undertaken |

Further details of how we measure our performance can be found on our website under the section Our role which includes our long-term strategic plans and our transparency reporting.<sup>13</sup>

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<sup>10</sup> What was previously referred to as UK Government Web Archive ‘visits’ are now termed ‘sessions’; what formerly was ‘visitors’ is now termed ‘users’. This is to be consistent and clear with respect to our analytics data, which now uses Google Analytics. The effect of this is to reduce the headline figure in comparison to server log analysis, which was our previous method. Furthermore, we are now reporting usage metrics for two web archive services: the UK Government Web Archive (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/webarchive/) and the EU Exit Web Archive (https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/eu-exit/).

<sup>11</sup> The online users’ satisfaction survey results are down this year as we were not able to get responses from the full range of people due to the COVID-19 crisis.

<sup>12</sup> The Information Management Assessment (IMA) programme is currently being evaluated. This means that these figures will not be included the next annual report for 2020-21. The assessment criteria will be updated, and we will also aim to widen the number of public record bodies who can benefit from it. A publication model for this new iteration of the programme is to be decided. As a result, assessment numbers and publication figures will not be included in the annual report until the new assessment programme has been developed, trialled and implemented. Please see: nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/manage-information/ima/ima-reports-action-plans/ for all previously published reports and action plans. Progress on a refreshed programme will be communicated in due course.

<sup>13</sup> nationalarchives.gov.uk/our-role Environment and sustainability

During 2019-20, we continued to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. We achieved a 74% reduction in carbon emissions compared with the baseline year of 2009-10, and against the government target of a 32% reduction.

We have worked to meet and exceed our obligations under the Greening Government Commitments(^\\text{14}) sending no waste to landfill and reducing the overall waste we produced by 51% compared with the baseline year of 2010-11, against a target of a 30% reduction.

We also continued to reduce our use of domestic flights and our paper consumption.

In 2019-20, we used 30% less water compared with the 2009-10 baseline year, which represents a 6% decrease compared with the previous year.

For further information, please see Sustainability accounting and reporting (Annex A) on page 94.

We continued to support the local community in the following ways:

- Maintained our grounds and ornamental ponds in accordance with our biodiversity plan, as a local amenity for our staff, visitors and local residents to enjoy. The grounds are open to the public from dawn until dusk, 364 days of the year and remained open during the COVID-19 crisis, subject to social distancing requirements.

- Maintained our surface water drainage arrangements to meet our obligations to the flood defences of the local area, supporting the Environment Agency and the Port of London Authority’s Thames flood defence maintenance work.

- Communicated regularly with our neighbours and local residents regarding planned maintenance and project works.

- Hosted quarterly Police Liaison Group meetings with the Metropolitan Police Service Safer Neighbourhood Team, local neighbourhood watch representatives, residents of the Kew ward, and local councillors.

- Provided meeting space for local societies and resident groups’ community-focused activities.

- Continued membership and participation with the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and key employers across the borough.

- Liaised with the Swan Sanctuary for monitoring the wellbeing of resident wildfowl on our grounds.

- Supported the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames’ environmental initiatives.

Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper, 16 July 2020

(^{14}) [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greening-government-commitments-2016-to-2020](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greening-government-commitments-2016-to-2020) Accountability report 2.1 Corporate governance report

Statement from Lesley Cowley OBE, Chair of The National Archives’ Board

This year has been the first year of Archives for Everyone, The National Archives’ new four-year strategy which sets out how the organisation will become a 21st century national archive that can best serve the nation, and bring archival collections to life for more audiences.

Throughout the year, the Board was pleased to oversee progress and completion in several significant areas of this strategy. Highlights included the launch of The National Archives Trust in February, and a new brand and visual identity for the organisation, which is aligned to our aim to engage broader and diverse audiences, designed to be adaptable for the digital age.

With Archives for Everyone comes the call to work in partnership with other organisations in championing why archives matter. The potential for current and emerging new technologies to make this happen has never been more important. Work is under way to update and refresh The National Archives’ digital strategy and marrying it to the key principles in Archives for Everyone: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial and Disruptive. Throughout its lifecycle, the digital strategy has been well-received by peers across the UK and internationally. Realising its aims remains a significant challenge, but it is important to take the necessary steps to establish best practice and standards in digital preservation, together with greater access to records.

The National Archives is serious about fulfilling its obligations to develop new opportunities in making archives inclusive, relevant and accessible. With this in mind, the Board continues to review its own practices and effectiveness. As part of this work, I am pleased that we have agreed proposals to recruit a fifth Non-executive Board member to assist our thinking on inclusion. We hope to attract an individual that can bring a fresh and varied professional perspective from their experiences. We will also undertake an action plan for making the Inclusive Archive a reality.

At the time of writing, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic poses many challenges for the next stages of Archives for Everyone. For the first time in a generation, The National Archives closed its doors to visitors and we therefore decided to provide our digital downloads for free during the closure. The first part of 2020 has been a truly challenging time for everyone and for many organisations. Like many others, we have had to undergo rapid and often wholesale adjustments in how we operate. Throughout this difficult period, I have been hugely impressed by the dedication of our people. In addition, the care and compassion for others that I have seen from staff and colleagues has been both humbling and inspiring.

I would like to thank everyone who works with and for The National Archives, and my fellow Board members for their commitment, energy and support during the year.

Lesley Cowley OBE, Chair of The National Archives’ Board, 16 July 2020

## Directors’ report

### About The National Archives

Our remit is summarised on pages 10 to 21 of this report.

### Management and structure

During the year under review, our duties were carried out by the following directorates and functions.

| Directorate/Function | Who | Responsible for | |----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **Chief Executive and Keeper** | Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper | Our future direction and current performance, and is accountable to ministers for both. As Keeper of Public Records and Historical Manuscripts Commissioner, they hold the offices of Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament (responsible for publishing all UK legislation, and the official newspapers of record, *The Gazette*); Queen's Printer for Scotland and Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office; and the office of Government Printer for Northern Ireland. | | **Public Engagement** | Caroline Ottaway-Searle, Director of Public Engagement | Our public engagement strategy, and developing on site, online, and remote learning and engagement programmes for the public and wider educational audiences. | | **Operations** | Paul Davies, Operations Director | Our business-critical functions, including the estates and facilities, security, IT operations, corporate and strategic planning, and human resources. | | **Research and Collections** | Valerie Johnson, Director of Research and Collections | Our research, academic engagement and conservation programmes using our collections to enhance access. Our active support for the archives sector to secure the best possible long-term future for their collections and services. | | Directorate | Name | Description | |-----------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Digital | John Sheridan, Digital Director | Our digital services, enabling us to fulfil our ambition to become a digital archive by instinct and design. To provide strategic direction, transform our digital offer, and to shape and drive forward our cataloguing and web-based services. | | Finance and Commercial | Neil Curtis, Finance and Commercial Director | Our financial and procurement functions, and driving the development of our commercial capacities in new and innovative ways. | | Government and Information Rights | Lucy Fletcher, Director for Government and Information Rights | Our offer to government, providing expert advice and guidance to government departments and public bodies, driving strategic compliance with statutory obligations including the transition to the 20-year rule; and enabling the growth of digital capability for the future preservation of born-digital government records. |

Further information about the organisation and directorate functions can be found on our website on the Our Staff web pages at: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/transparency/our-staff

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15 From 1 October, this directorate changed its name from Government Audience, to Government and Information Rights. On this same date, Lucy Fletcher became Director for Government and Information Rights, and the directorate was split in to the following two departments: 1) the Government Services, Strategy and Engagement Department, and 2) the Information Rights Department. The National Archives’ Board

The National Archives’ Board is the main governance body of the organisation. It consists of the Chief Executive, six Executive Directors, Chair of the Board and three Non-executive Board members, who are:

Lesley Cowley OBE Chair of the The National Archives’ Board

Dr Claire Feehily Non-executive Board member, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee

Baroness (Ros) Scott of Needham Market, Non-executive Board member

Mark Richards Non-executive Board member

Read more about our Executive Team: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/executive-team and Board members: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/management-board on our website.

Company directorships and other significant interests held by Board members

No company directorships or other significant interests are held by current members of the Board that may conflict with their management responsibilities. For further details on related party transactions, see page 93.

Audit

The financial statements have been audited by the National Audit Office on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General. The audit fee was £75,000 (see Note 3 to the accounts). The National Audit Office did not provide any non-audit services during the year.

As far as the Accounting Officer is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the National Audit Office is unaware. The Accounting Officer has taken all steps necessary to keep themselves informed of any relevant audit information and to establish that the entity’s auditors are notified of that information.

Public sector information

The National Archives has complied with the cost allocation and charging requirements set out by HM Treasury. We are one of the public sector bodies now brought fully within the scope of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 and we have taken steps to ensure that we comply with those Regulations, including publishing a statement of our public task.17

16 Robert Milburn is the Independent Member of the Audit and Risk Committee. 17 nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/what-we-do Governance statement

The National Archives' Board is the main governance body of the organisation. It consists of the Chief Executive, six Executive Directors, Chair of the Board and three Non-executive Board members. The Board is attended by the Head of Strategy and Chief Executive's Office and the Head of Governance. Formal Board meetings take place ten times a year; in addition, the Board typically has one or two strategy days.

Supporting and informing the work of the Board are the Audit and Risk Committee and the Nominations and Governance Committee.

The National Archives' Board is responsible for ensuring that the leadership of The National Archives:

- sets the strategic direction and makes strategic choices
- provides leadership in the delivery of statutory, corporate and business responsibilities
- makes key investment, procurement and project decisions that withstand scrutiny
- identifies and manages risks effectively
- encourages improvements in performance across the organisation
- takes corporate responsibility for its decisions and their implementation.

The role of Board members is to:

- provide effective challenge through open debate on Board matters
- ensure the right information and evidence is available to make decisions, measure performance and provide assurance
- uphold the values of the organisation as well as those expressed in the Seven Principles of Public Life.

The Board has a rolling agenda. Fixed agenda items include monthly financial reporting, quarterly business and performance reporting and corporate risk register review. The Board also reviews budget and strategic priorities and scrutinises major procurement and policy decisions affecting our future strategic direction. Summaries of the discussions at Board meetings are available at: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/management-board/meeting-summaries/

The Board is content that the data with which it is provided is adequate, timely and comprehensive, and there are robust arrangements for reviewing and checking data.

All Board members meet formally and informally with other senior managers and may be members of specific high-profile project and programme boards as required. We have an active group of Non-executive Board members who also engage closely with the business to give strong assurance and governance.

The Board undertakes an annual review of its effectiveness, using a survey of its members to inform in-depth discussion. This year, the Board again concluded that it was working well, but could increase its focus on strategic items and horizon scanning.

Challenge on performance of the Board is provided by the Non-executive Board members and other Board members. In this, the Board is informed by findings of the

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18 Our new Head of Governance joined the organisation on 2 December 2019. They are our senior expert in matters of governance and leads its corporate governance function.

19 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life latest internal audit of The National Archives’ governance structures.

**The Executive Team** The Executive Team is the decision-making body of the organisation. It consists of the Chief Executive and Keeper and Executive Directors. The Head of Strategy and Chief Executive’s Office and/or a Deputy also attend Executive Team meetings which were typically held weekly during 2019-20. The role of the Executive Team is to:

- fulfil The National Archives’ statutory responsibilities and deliver its strategic and business priorities
- drive and manage improvements in business and financial performance
- drive innovation, transparency and efficiencies that support delivery of strategic objectives and give value for money
- identify high-level risks, ensuring their effective mitigation and business continuity
- review and agree corporate policies
- direct and support managers to deliver key investments and major projects
- lead strategic staff management and resourcing.

The business of the Executive Team is managed in a way that is inclusive, regularly inviting business updates from the staff members responsible for delivery. The Executive Directors are responsible for cascading summaries of Executive Team business to the rest of the organisation.

Informal challenge encourages staff to bring real issues to the Executive Team’s attention. In addition, Directors attend ‘question and answer’ sessions. All members of staff are invited to attend and may ask any question about the running of the organisation or current concerns. Any questions may be submitted anonymously in order to encourage openness.

**The Audit and Risk Committee** The Audit and Risk Committee is a sub-committee of the Board to support the Accounting Officer and Board members in their responsibilities for issues of risk, internal control and governance, and associated assurance by:

- reviewing the effectiveness of the assurance framework in meeting the Board/Accounting Officer’s assurance needs
- reviewing the reliability and integrity of these assurances
- providing an opinion on how well the Board and the Accounting Officer are supported in decision-taking and in discharging their accountability obligations (particularly in respect of Financial Reporting).

The Audit and Risk Committee meets quarterly and is the main oversight committee for the organisation. Membership comprises of the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, another Non-executive Board member and an appointed independent member. Additional Non-executive Board members may be co-opted when needed. Other attendees at each meeting are the Chief Executive and Keeper and Accounting Officer, the Finance and Commercial Director, the Operations Director, representatives from our external auditors from the National Audit Office, representatives from the Internal Auditors (BDO UK LLP) and the Corporate Performance and Transparency Manager (Secretary). Traditionally, other Non-executives, Executive Directors and senior staff members may be invited to attend particular meetings for discussion of individual agenda items.

In November 2019, the Committee undertook a review of its effectiveness using a self-assessment checklist enabling qualitative and quantitative results. The summary report was presented to the December 2019 Committee meeting and concluded that the results had been broadly positive, with a small number of recommendations. These included papers presented providing greater analysis and evidence of lessons learned particularly in relation to larger projects; the Chair of the Committee reviewing opportunities to involve the Executive Team more widely on Audit and Risk Committee matters (outside of Committee meetings); and the Head of Governance ensuring that committee members are kept up to date on any relevant regulatory and legal developments.

Proposed areas for internal audit focus are informed by discussions with the Committee and the Executive Team, together with the internal auditors' understanding of our control environment, the Corporate Risk Register, and results of previous work performed. Reports from the internal auditors are copied to Committee members as soon as they are finalised. The Committee monitors the implementation of recommendations made by the internal auditors, taking reports and evidence of progress as a standing agenda item. Any overdue recommendations are reported to the Executive Team in advance of each Committee meeting, and Executive Directors may be called to appear before the Committee to account for slippage on implementation dates.

The internal auditors also conduct an annual review to follow up their recommendations, which provides further independent assurance to the Committee. For the reporting year, the internal annual opinion was that there is an adequate and effective system of governance, risk management and internal control in place throughout The National Archives.

This very positive opinion was formed following an upward trend in the direction of travel regarding internal control at The National Archives, demonstrated by a significant increase in the number of green audit ratings, and a decrease in amber audit ratings for individual reviews over the last two years. Ultimately, this was combined with a very proactive and thorough response by management, to ensure almost all of internal audit recommendations were fully implemented by their agreed completion dates. The Board and management will continue to seek out the areas of potential weakness in the control framework and take remedial action where necessary.

The Committee maintains a list of risk assurance processes and items to be reported to each meeting to structure its agenda. The list encompasses a number of regular updates during the year. This year these included:

- Recommendations from internal audits and progress on the implementation of recommendations: the Committee received assurance that management was taking appropriate action to fully implement Internal Audit recommendations, or provided business justification if implementation deadlines (which are set by the owner as part of their management response to each recommendation) were not met.

- Fraud risk assessment: this gave the Committee further assurance we have a good culture of fraud awareness and mitigation and highlighted any new areas for potential fraud.

- Security (including information assurance, cyber security risks, and data handling): the Committee noted that there were no significant breaches of security. It was also given assurance that our performance against HMG Minimum Security Standards was assessed via the Departmental Security Health Check return to the Cabinet Office.

- Health and safety: this gave the Committee assurance that we remain a safe working environment for staff, visitors and contractors, and comply with legal requirements.

- Environment and sustainability: this gave the Committee assurance that we are on track to meet Greening Government Commitments.

- HR Governance: this gave the Committee understanding of the current human resource risks, and provided assurance that avenues for confidential reporting within our organisation were understood and had been tested.

- Safeguarding Report: this report gave the Committee assurance that we are fulfilling our statutory responsibilities.

- Procurement Report: this bi-annual update gave assurance to the Committee that there is excellent oversight and management of any potential risks and opportunities associated with our procurement and commercial activities.

- Risk Management Policy and Risk Appetite: the Committee received assurance that our appetite and tolerance for risk management control within various areas of the business were adequate and effective.

- Accountability Statements: this annual update provided the Committee with assurance that business as usual risks were being managed effectively throughout the organisation.

In addition, the Committee received regular updates and progress reports on other issues of particular interest. This year these included assurance regarding plans for the setting up of The National Archives Trust, details of the Digital Archiving Core Trust Seal and a progress report on the first phase of the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive Project.

The Nominations and Governance Committee The Nominations and Governance Committee is a key forum for discussion of leadership development and succession planning, and the decision-making body for the pay and bonuses of all our senior civil service staff except for the Chief Executive and Keeper.

The Nominations and Governance Committee meets a minimum of twice a year. Pay increases are in line with guidance provided by the Cabinet Office, which hears the outcome of the Review Body on Senior Salaries, and sets the pay policy for senior salaries across the civil service. The Committee ensures that there are satisfactory systems for identifying and developing staff with high potential. It is chaired by the Chair of The National Archives' Board and membership consists of all Non-executive Board members, the Chief Executive and Keeper in an advisory capacity, and the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development provides secretarial support.

The Corporate Governance Code As a non-ministerial department, we adopt and adhere to HM Treasury's Corporate Governance in Central Government: Code of Good Practice 2017 to the extent that it is practical, appropriate and not incompatible with any statutory or other authoritative requirements. We periodically review the Board’s effectiveness and corporate governance to ensure that it aligns with good practice elsewhere across government – taking into account its unique role and responsibilities, and the statutory and non-statutory roles fulfilled by its senior officials. The current structure enables the Non-executive Board members to challenge the Chief Executive and Keeper and Executive Team, to clearly position it as an advisory body, and to shape the Board agenda.

### Attendance at Board meetings and the Audit and Risk Committee for the Chief Executive, Executive Directors and Non-executive Board members

Formal Board meetings take place ten times a year. In addition, the Board typically has one to two strategy days. The Chief Executive and Keeper, Executive Directors, and Non-executive Board members attended the following numbers of Board and Committee meetings (for which they were eligible to attend) during the year:

| Name | Role | Board | Audit and Risk Committee | Nominations and Governance Committee | |-----------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------|---------------------------|--------------------------------------| | Jeff James | Chief Executive and Keeper | 10 of 10 | 3 of 4 | 2 of 2 | | Neil Curtis | Finance and Commercial Director | 9 of 10 | 4 of 4 | N/A | | Paul Davies | Operations Director | 9 of 10 | 3 of 4 | N/A | | Lucy Fletcher | Director for Government and Information Rights | 10 of 10 | N/A | N/A | | Dr Valerie Johnson | Director of Research and Collections | 8 of 10 | N/A | N/A | | Caroline Ottaway-Searle | Director of Public Engagement | 9 of 10 | N/A | N/A | | John Sheridan | Digital Director | 9 of 10 | N/A | N/A | | Lesley Cowley OBE | Chair of the Board | 9 of 10 | N/A | 2 of 2 | Managing our risks We have a well-established approach to the management of risk at all levels. It encourages risk management as an enabling tool to balance risk and innovation across the organisation.

In 2019-20, our risks fell under the following categories:

- Financial
- Operational
- Reputational: general
- Reputational: ministers, MPs and government
- Compliance: legal, regulatory and data.20

The degree of risk is measured by considering likelihood and impact. To describe our appetite for each category of risk, the Executive Team sets maximum ‘residual risk’ scores based on the risk categories described above, and the Board expects that risks at all levels across the organisation will be managed within these scores. Where a risk exceeds its residual risk score, remedial action is taken where possible to reduce either likelihood or impact, where it is cost-effective to do so.

The Executive Team has identified a set of corporate risks, linked to our business priorities and informed by internal developments, external influences and longer-term commitments. These risks, if not managed, would compromise our ability to provide our statutory services or diminish these services to a degree unacceptable to our users. Each corporate risk is owned by a member of the Executive Team and they are regularly reviewed by the Executive Team, the Board, and the Audit and Risk Committee.

Our most significant risks in terms of residual risk scores are outlined as follows:

**COVID-19:** there is a risk that a) our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. the closure to public and staff of our building and the transition to a largely ‘virtual’ home-working organisation for an as yet unknown period, and b) the impact of the virus itself, may impact on our ability to deliver our statutory duties and other obligations.

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20 The previous two Compliance risk descriptions were reviewed and combined to create this new category – ‘Compliance: legal, regulatory and data’. Overview of controls in place:

- following all government COVID-19 related instructions and guidance
- The National Archives’ Pandemic plan reviewed, updated and implemented
- closure of Kew site to staff and public, with minimal essential ongoing on site presence, enabled by enhancements to our capability to work off site
- regular communication to staff, stakeholders (including DCMS) and the public
- identification of business critical functions and their ‘on site’ dependency, with ongoing monitoring via the Major Incident Management Team of our capacity to deliver in business critical areas
- Major Incident Management Team meeting regularly to plan the re-occupation of our building and restoration of services
- dedicated COVID-19 risk register created.

Failure to meet the challenges of digital: there is a risk that we fail to address the challenges of being a digital archive, for example, not developing suitably scalable systems, not growing and developing our expertise, not moving quickly enough to respond to technological change.

Overview of controls in place during the year:

- the Board’s review of the Digital Strategy 2017-19 recorded significant progress to date, commissioning an updated digital strategy for 2020-24 aligned to Archives for Everyone
- prioritising mitigating preservation risk, through measurement and experimentation, as well as streamlining the digital transfer processes
- growth of the Digital Archiving teams through recruitment and apprenticeships
- skills development though learning days and training
- active collaboration with other archives nationally and internationally
- completion of this year’s business priorities and continued recruitment to the Digital Archiving team resulted in this risk being brought into appetite in February 2020.

Threat to archive services: there is a risk that financial constraints lead to pressure on archives.

Overview of controls in place during the year:

- legal confirmation of our statutory obligations in terms of Places of Deposit has been obtained
- ongoing advocacy and support by The National Archives to reinforce the role of Places of Deposit and the importance of retaining records locally
- intelligence gathering enables early preventative intervention by The National Archives
- working with Business Archives Council-led Crisis Management Team to save and find a home for business records at risk and building relationships with liquidators to support this work.

Other strategic risks considered and mitigated include:

- Transition to the 20-year rule: there is a risk that we fail to provide sufficient support, resources and/or expertise to government departments regarding the transition to the 20-year rule. The UK’s Exit from the European Union: there is a risk that we fail to prepare sufficiently for the end of the transition period the UK has agreed with the EU, for example in relation to our legislation services and the duty in the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

Failure to exploit and benefit from commercial opportunities: there is a risk arising from us not currently enjoying the commercial freedoms of museums and galleries, together with an organisational lack of a commercial culture and limited commercial expertise.

Staff, leadership and culture: there is a risk that leadership and management do not deliver the required shift in organisational culture that results in an effective and engaged, diverse and inclusive workforce.

Identifying and managing risk is not a barrier to efficiency, effectiveness or innovation, and managing our corporate risks has a minimal effect on our activities unless additional controls need to be introduced. As far as possible, we incorporate risk mitigations into our business-as-usual activities, reinforcing the message that risk management is the responsibility of all staff.

Risks below corporate level are managed, reviewed and updated at least quarterly by the Executive Directors and their management teams. A directorate’s risk register captures what are considered exceptional risks. These will normally:

- be finite
- require new or enhanced risk mitigation or control
- be clearly linked with an organisation or service priority.

We expect that, over time, most directorate risks will be managed as ‘business as usual’; exceptionally, directorate risks may be escalated to the corporate risk register. At operational level, risks are managed on a day-to-day basis. The Executive Directors receive assurance on operational risks through six-monthly accountability statements from their direct reports. These statements are reviewed by the Directors and approved by the Chief Executive and Keeper. Any significant governance or performance issues highlighted are raised with the Audit and Risk Committee.

Authors of accountability statements assess the maturity of risk management in their areas of responsibility and provide evidence for their assessment. Authors are also required to provide assurance that their staff comply with key corporate policies, including the:

- fraud policy
- anti-bribery policy
- conflict of interest policy
- routes for confidential reporting (whistleblowing)
- Civil Service Code.

Short and medium-term additional governance structures are introduced for high-value projects and programmes as appropriate.

We are satisfied that we manage and mitigate risks, and where necessary, that we take action to contain the impact of risk. We are confident that our risk management approach is comprehensive, allowing the Executive Team to identify early, and respond to, any possible threats to the achievement of our objectives.

At a corporate level, our risks are aligned with our strategic priorities set out in Archives for Everyone our business plan for 2019-2023, which focuses on the organisation’s goals of becoming the Inclusive Archive, the Entrepreneurial Archive and the Disruptive Archive.

**Health and safety**

We are committed to high standards of health and safety management and welfare. The Chief Executive and Keeper remains committed to enabling a positive safety culture and we are aware that this can only become a reality if everyone in the workplace understands and acts on their individual and collective responsibilities. Today, more than ever, our staff are working collaboratively with their colleagues, to embed this change and create a safe work culture. However, we all have a personal responsibility for observing safety policies, rules and procedures.

Effective health and safety management improves safety performance and reduces work related injuries and ill health. Part of our objectives are to avoid accidents, injuries and ill-health to our staff, and visitors and to prevent damage to property and to conserve the environment. To achieve this, we are committed to the following principles:

- establishing arrangements for effective organisational planning, monitoring and reviewing of health and safety policies and procedures
- setting ourselves challenging targets and objectives to ensure continual improvement in standards of health and safety management
- communicating to all managers, staff and contractors through regular updates and discussions
- complying with relevant health and safety legislation and other requirements
- encouraging the use of industry best practices.

Our Health and Safety Committee and Employee Forums seek feedback from stakeholders on individual pieces of work (e.g. volunteers or workers in specific risk groups) and ensure that information is cascaded at all levels.

By focusing our attention on culture, we have ensured that our values and behaviours are inclusive of health, safety and wellbeing and that these are embedded within our learning and development programme and policies.

We continue to influence and encourage safety behaviour through assessments and direct interventions including inspections and investigations with stakeholders, to create and share knowledge and awareness of health and safety risks.

We will continue to raise and maintain awareness through guidelines, internal communications, department health and safety audits, staff training, and to ensure these are available to internal and external parties through our intranet and website.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with government guidance, we closed our building on 17 March 2020 and the majority of staff are currently working from home. We continue to provide health and safety support, including equipment and furniture to those who require it.

Confidential reporting (whistle-blowing)

Staff and contractors have access to our Confidential Reporting (Whistle-blowing) policy. This provides access to the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, or to the Chief Executive and Keeper, who support the individual in raising their concerns. Staff and contractors are reminded of the policy during the year, including how to raise concerns. During the year, one concern was raised and dealt with under these policy arrangements. Information risk We continue to work hard to demonstrate that we are an exemplar in the field of information risk within UK Government.

General Data Protection Regulations There were no personal data-related incidents in the reporting period. Statement of Accounting Officer’s responsibilities

Under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, HM Treasury has directed The National Archives to prepare, for each financial year, resource accounts detailing the resources acquired, held, or disposed of during the year and the use of resources by The National Archives during the year.

The accounts are prepared on an accruals basis and must give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of The National Archives and of its net resource outturn, application of resources, changes in taxpayers’ equity and cash flows for the financial year.

In preparing the accounts, the Accounting Officer complies with the requirements of the Government Financial Reporting Manual and in particular to:

- observe the Accounts Direction issued by HM Treasury including the relevant accounting and disclosure requirements, and apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent basis
- make judgements and estimates on a reasonable basis
- state whether applicable accounting standards, as set out in the Government Financial Reporting Manual, have been followed, and disclose and explain any material departures in the accounts
- confirm that the annual report and accounts as a whole are fair, balanced and understandable, and personal responsibility for the annual report and accounts and the judgements required for determining that it is fair, balanced and understandable
- prepare the accounts on the going concern basis.

HM Treasury has appointed Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper, as Accounting Officer of The National Archives with responsibility for preparing The National Archives’ accounts and for transmitting them to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The responsibilities of an Accounting Officer, including responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the public finances for which an Accounting Officer is answerable, for keeping proper records and for safeguarding the department’s assets, are set out in Managing Public Money published by HM Treasury.

As the Accounting Officer, I have taken all the steps that I ought to have taken to make myself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that The National Archives’ auditors are aware of that information. So far as I am aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware.

Jeff James Accounting Officer 16 July 2020 2.2 Remuneration and staff report

Senior civil service grades

The remuneration of senior civil servants is set by the Prime Minister following independent advice from the Review Body on Senior Salaries. In reaching its recommendations, the Review Body has regard to the following considerations:

- the need to recruit, retain and motivate suitably able and qualified people to exercise their different responsibilities
- regional/local variations in labour markets and their effects on the recruitment and retention of staff
- government policies for improving public services, including the requirement on departments to meet the output targets for the delivery of departmental services
- the funds available to departments as set out in the government's departmental expenditure limits
- government's inflation target.

The Review Body takes account of the evidence it receives about wider economic considerations and the affordability of its recommendations. Further information about the work of the Review Body can be found on the Office of Manpower Economics web pages on GOV.UK.21

Service contracts

Civil service appointments are made in accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Code. The Code requires appointments to be made on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, but also includes the circumstances when appointments may otherwise be made. The Recruitment Principles published by the Civil Service Commission specify the circumstances when appointments may be made otherwise.

Unless otherwise stated below, the officials covered by this report hold appointments that are open-ended. Early termination, other than for misconduct, would result in the individual receiving compensation as set out in the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

Jeff James' appointment as Chief Executive and Keeper was confirmed by the Ministry of Justice on 29 July 2014 until 28 July 2018 and was extended for a further four-year term from 29 July 2018 by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Lesley Cowley OBE and Dr Claire Feehily were appointed from 1 January 2016 as Non-executive Board members on a three-year contract. Lesley Cowley's contract was extended until the 31 December 2021 and Claire Feehily's contract was extended until the end of May 2021.

Baroness (Ros) Scott of Needham Market and Mark Richards were appointed as Non-executive Board members from 21 May 2018 on a three-year contract.

Service contracts can also be terminated under the standard procedures of the Civil Service Management Code.

Further information about the work of the Civil Service Commissioners can be found at www.civilservicecommission.org

21 www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-manpower-economics The Nominations and Governance Committee The policy on remuneration of senior civil servants, and the deliberations of the Nominations and Governance Committee, adhere to Cabinet Office policy, which follows the guidance and recommendations of the Review Body on Senior Salaries.

Salary and bonuses Salary includes: gross salary, overtime, reserved rights to London weighting or London allowances, recruitment and retention allowances; and any other allowance to the extent that it is subject to UK taxation. This report is based on accrued payments made by the department and thus recorded in these accounts. Percentage salary increases, and performance bonuses, are agreed by the Nominations and Governance Committee in accordance with strict guidance and parameters set each year by the Cabinet Office.

Senior staff have written objectives agreed with the Chief Executive and Keeper. Performance against these objectives, and against The National Archives’ values, forms the basis of their formal appraisal and subsequent pay and bonus recommendations. This information is used by the Nominations and Governance Committee to determine pay awards, according to the Review Body on Senior Salaries’ annual recommendations.

The monetary value of benefits in kind covers any benefits provided by the department and treated by HM Revenue and Customs as a taxable emolument.

Bonuses are based on performance levels attained and are made as part of the appraisal process. Bonuses paid in a year relate to performance in the preceding year. As such, bonuses reported in 2019-2020 relate to performance in 2018-19 and the comparative bonuses reported for 2018-19 relate to performance in 2017-18.

The following sections provide details of the remuneration and pension interests of the most senior officials (i.e. Board members) of the department. The salary, pension entitlements and the value of any taxable benefits in kind of the Chief Executive and Keeper, Associate Director and Non-executive Board members of The National Archives, were as follows (audited):(^{22,23})

| Name | Salary and FYE (full-year, full-time equivalent) £'000 | Bonus £'000 | Benefit in kind £ | Pension benefits £'000 | Total £'000 | |-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------| | Jeff James | 120-125 | - | - | 48 | 170-175 | | Chief Executive and Keeper | | | | | | | Neil Curtis | 95-100 | 10 | - | 38 | 145-150 | | Finance and Commercial Director | | | | | | | Paul Davies | 85-90 | - | - | 28 | 115-120 | | Operations Director | | | | | | | Lucy Fletcher | 80-85 | - | - | 32 | 110-115 | | Director for Government and Information Rights(^{24}) | | | | | | | Dr Valerie Johnson | 85-90 | - | - | 33 | 120-125 | | Director of Research and Collections | | | | | | | Caroline Ottaway-Searle | 90-95 | - | - | 35 | 125-130 | | Director of Public Engagement | | | | | | | John Sheridan | 85-90 | - | - | 35 | 120-125 | | Digital Director | | | | | | | Lesley Cowley OBE | 15-20 | N/A | 1,700 | N/A | 15-20 | | Chair of The National Archives Board | | | | | | | Dr Claire Feehily | 10-15 | N/A | 2,800 | N/A | 15-20 | | Non-executive Board member | | | | | | | Robert Milburn | 0-5 | N/A | - | N/A | 0-5 | | Independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee | | | | | | | Peter Phippen | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | | Non-executive Board member(^{25}) | | | | | | | Mark Richards | 10-15 | N/A | 500 | N/A | 10-15 | | Non-executive Board member | | | | | | | Baroness (Ros) Scott of Needham Market | 10-15 | N/A | 300 | N/A | 10-15 | | Non-executive Board member | | | | | |

(^{22}) Salary and full year equivalent (FYE) are presented to the nearest £1,000. FYE is shown in brackets. Benefits in kind are presented to the nearest £100, pension benefits and total remuneration to the nearest £1,000.

(^{23}) The value of pension benefits accrued during the year is calculated as (the real increase in pension multiplied by 20) less (the contributions made by the individual). The real increases exclude increases due to inflation or any increase or decreases due to a transfer of pension rights.

(^{24}) Associate Director until 14 October 2018.

(^{25}) Until 13 January 2019.

### Pay multiples (audited)

| Role and Title | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | |----------------|---------|---------| | **Band of highest paid Director’s remuneration (£)** | 120-125 | 120-125 | | **Median total remuneration (£)** | 31,141 | 30,216 | | **Ratio** | 3.9 | 4.1 |

Reporting bodies are required to disclose the relationship between the remuneration of the highest-paid director in their organisation and the median remuneration of the organisation’s workforce.

The banded remuneration of the highest-paid Executive Director at The National Archives in the financial year 2019-20 was £120k-£125k (2018-19: £120k-£125k). This was 3.9 times the median remuneration of the workforce, which

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26 Associate Director until 14 October 2018. 27 Until 13 January 2019. was £31,141. The increase in the median from the previous year is due primarily to a 2% pay increase received by staff and 1% for Senior Civil Service staff from April 2019.

In both 2019-20 and 2018-19, no employees received remuneration in excess of the highest-paid director. Remuneration ranged from £16,000-£125,000 (2018-19: £16,000-£125,000).

Total remuneration includes salary, non-consolidated performance-related pay and benefits-in-kind (travel and subsistence). It does not include severance payments, employer pension contributions and the cash equivalent transfer of pensions.

**Pension benefits (audited)**

| Name | Accrued pension at pension age as at 31/03/20 and related lump sum | Real increase in pension and related lump sum at pension age | CETV at 31/03/20 | CETV at 31/03/19 | Real increase in CETV | |-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|------------------|----------------------| | £000 in bands of £5,000 | £000 in bands of £2,500 | £000 to nearest £000 | £000 to nearest £000 | £000 to nearest £000 | £000 to nearest £000 | | Jeff James Chief Executive and Keeper | 15-20 | 2.5-5 | 207 | 163 | 27 | | Neil Curtis Finance and Commercial Director| 5-10 | 0-2.5 | 86 | 58 | 18 | | Paul Davies Operations Director | 25-30 | 0-2.5 | 562 | 507 | 28 | | Lucy Fletcher Director for Government and Information Rights 28 | 5-10 | 0-2.5 | 85 | 65 | 11 | | Valerie Johnson Director of Research and Collections | 25-30 | 0-2.5 | 373 | 330 | 21 | | Caroline Ottaway-Searle Director of Public Engagement | 25-30 | 0-2.5 | 419 | 370 | 27 | | John Sheridan Digital Director | 25-30 | 0-2.5 | 338 | 302 | 18 |

There were no employer contributions to partnership pension accounts in respect of any of the above.

**Civil service pensions**

Pension benefits are provided through the Civil Service pension arrangements. From 1 April 2015 a new pension scheme for civil servants was introduced – the Civil Servants and Others Pension Scheme or **alpha**, which provides benefits on a career average basis with a normal pension age equal to the member's State Pension Age (or 65 if higher). From that date all newly appointed civil servants and the majority of those already in service joined **alpha**. Prior to that date, civil servants participated in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS). The PCSPS has four sections: three providing benefits on a final salary basis (**classic**, **premium** or **classic plus**) with a normal pension age of 60; and one providing benefits on a whole career basis (**nuvos**) with a normal pension age of 65.

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28 Associate Director until 14 October 2018. These statutory arrangements are unfunded with the cost of benefits met by monies voted by Parliament each year. Pensions payable under **classic, premium, classic plus, nuvos** and **alpha** are increased annually in line with Pensions Increase legislation. Existing members of the PCSPS who were within 10 years of their normal pension age on 1 April 2012 remained in the PCSPS after 1 April 2015. Those who were between 10 years and 13 years and 5 months from their normal pension age on 1 April 2012 will switch into alpha sometime between 1 June 2015 and 1 February 2022. All members who switch to **alpha** have their PCSPS benefits ‘banked’, with those with earlier benefits in one of the final salary sections of the PCSPS having those benefits based on their final salary when they leave **alpha** (the pension figures quoted for officials show pension earned in PCSPS or **alpha** – as appropriate). Where the official has benefits in both the PCSPS and **alpha** the figure quoted is the combined value of their benefits in the two schemes). Members joining from October 2002 may opt for either the appropriate defined benefit arrangement or a ‘money purchase’ stakeholder pension with an employer contribution (partnership pension account).

Employee contributions are salary-related and range between 4.6% and 8.05% for members of **classic, premium, classic plus, nuvos** and **alpha**. Benefits in classic accrue at the rate of 1/80th of final pensionable earnings for each year of service. In addition, a lump sum equivalent to three years initial pension is payable on retirement. For premium, benefits accrue at the rate of 1/60th of final pensionable earnings for each year of service. Unlike **classic**, there is no automatic lump sum. **classic plus** is essentially a hybrid with benefits for service before 1 October 2002 calculated broadly as per **classic** and benefits for service from October 2002 worked out as in premium. In **nuvos** a member builds up a pension based on his pensionable earnings during their period of scheme membership. At the end of the scheme year (31 March) the member’s earned pension account is credited with 2.3% of their pensionable earnings in that scheme year and the accrued pension is uprated in line with Pensions Increase legislation. Benefits in **alpha** build up in a similar way to **nuvos**, except that the accrual rate in 2.32%. In all cases members may opt to give up (commute) pension for a lump sum up to the limits set by the Finance Act 2004.

The partnership pension account is a stakeholder pension arrangement. The employer makes a basic contribution of between 8% and 14.75% (depending on the age of the member) into a stakeholder pension product chosen by the employee from the appointed provider Legal & General. The employee does not have to contribute, but where they do make contributions, the employer will match these up to a limit of 3% of pensionable salary (in addition to the employer’s basic contribution). Employers also contribute a further 0.5% of pensionable salary to cover the cost of centrally-provided risk benefit cover (death in service and ill health retirement).

The accrued pension quoted is the pension the member is entitled to receive when they reach pension age, or immediately on ceasing to be an active member of the scheme if they are already at or over pension age. Pension age is 60 for members of **classic, premium** and **classic plus**, 65 for members of **nuvos**, and the higher of 65 or State Pension Age for members of **alpha**. (The pension figures quoted for officials show pension earned in PCSPS or **alpha** – as appropriate). Where the official has benefits in both the PCSPS and alpha the figure quoted is the combined value of their benefits in the two schemes, but note that part of that pension may be payable from different ages).

Further details about the Civil Service pension arrangements can be found at the website www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk

Cash Equivalent Transfer Values A Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) is the actuarially assessed capitalised value of the pension scheme benefits accrued by a member at a particular point in time. The benefits valued are the member’s accrued benefits and any contingent spouse’s pension payable from the scheme. A CETV is a payment made by a pension scheme or arrangement to secure pension benefits in another pension scheme or arrangement when the member leaves a scheme and chooses to transfer the benefits accrued in their former scheme. The pension figures shown relate to the benefits that the individual has accrued as a consequence of their total membership of the pension scheme, not just their service in a senior capacity to which disclosure applies.

The figures include the value of any pension benefit in another scheme or arrangement which the member has transferred to the Civil Service pension arrangements. They also include any additional pension benefit accrued to the member as a result of their buying additional pension benefits at their own cost. CETVs are worked out in accordance with The Occupational Pension Schemes (Transfer Values) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 and do not take account of any actual or potential reduction to benefits resulting from Lifetime Allowance Tax which may be due when pension benefits are taken.

Real increase in CETV This reflects the increase in CETV that is funded by the employer. It does not include the increase in accrued pension due to inflation, contributions paid by the employee (including the value of any benefits transferred from another pension scheme or arrangement) and uses common market valuation factors for the start and end of the period.

Staff report For the tenth year, we participated in the civil service staff engagement survey, achieving an overall engagement score of 71% (2018-19: 67%) and retaining our status as a civil service ‘high performer’.

We are committed to training and developing our staff. We continue to run a comprehensive programme of learning and development, including our Corporate Management Development Programme, which aims to equip line managers with the skills needed to lead and develop staff, our Career Management Programme available to all staff, and our Stepping Up – Exploring Your Potential programme for aspiring managers.

Our senior managers meet regularly with staff and trade union representatives in a number of ways, including the Whitley Council, Health and Safety Committee, and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Staff forums.

The civil service-wide recruitment restrictions announced in May 2010 are still in place, which means that we have had to look at how best to use our talent across the organisation. We also have other people and skill resource requirements on a short-term, project-specific basis.

Equality and diversity We are committed to equal opportunities for all. Policies are in place to guard against discrimination and to ensure that there are no unfair or illegal barriers to employment or advancement within our organisation. Suitability for employment is based on skills, qualifications and experience irrespective of race, age, gender, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs or opinions.

We are a Disability Confident Level 2 employer, and we aim to make sure that there is no discrimination on the grounds of disability. We continue to encourage and support our staff, and invest in their wellbeing.

Workforce breakdown

| Staff numbers | 31 March 2020 | 31 March 2019 | |---------------|---------------|---------------| | Headcount | 527 | 507 | | Full time equivalents (FTE) | 498 | 481 |

| Workforce diversity | 31 March 2020 | 31 March 2019 | |---------------------|---------------|---------------| | Black and Minority Ethnic | 19.9% | 16.8% | | Women – Director level | 3 of 7 | 3 of 7 | | Women | 53.8% | 50.9% | | Disabled | 8.8% | 9.1% | | Temporary appointments | 17 | 8 |

| Sickness | 31 March 2020 | 31 March 2019 | |----------|---------------|---------------| | Days per FTE | 6.1 | 5.1 |

| Civil service staff engagement survey | 31 March 2020 | 31 March 2019 | |---------------------------------------|---------------|---------------| | Engagement score % | 71 | 67 |

| Consultancy expenditure | 31 March 2020 | 31 March 2019 | |-------------------------|---------------|---------------| | £’000s | 9 | 23 |

Average full-time equivalent number of persons employed (audited) The average number of full-time equivalent persons employed during the year was as follows:

______________________________________________________________________

29 Percentage of employees declaring an ethnicity. 30 Percentage of employees declaring a disability. 31 Temporary appointments are employees appointed under Exception 1 of the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.

### Permanently employed staff

| Service Area | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Government information management | 115 | 1 | | Preservation and protection | 84 | 2 | | Public access | 294 | 2 | | **Total** | 493 | 5 |

### Senior civil service (SCS) by band as at 31 March:

| Salary band | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |---------------------------|---------|---------| | £60,000 - £70,000 | - | 1 | | £70,000 - £80,000 | - | - | | £80,000 - £90,000 | 4 | 3 | | £90,000 - £100,000 | 2 | 2 | | £100,000 - £110,000 | - | - | | £110,000 - £120,000 | - | - | | £120,000 - £130,000 | 1 | 1 | | **Total** | 7 | 7 |

______________________________________________________________________

32 ‘Other staff’ includes staff on fixed term contracts as well as agency staff and any specialist contractor. Staff costs The following section is subject to an audit:

| | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |--------------------------------|---------|---------| | | Permanently employed staff | Other staff | Total | Total | | Wages and salaries | 17,744 | 212 | 17,956 | 18,066 | | Social security costs | 1,868 | - | 1,868 | 1,822 | | Other pension costs | 4,620 | - | 4,620 | 3,428 | | **Sub total** | **24,232** | **212** | **24,444** | **23,316** | | Less recoveries in respect of outward secondments | 34 | - | 34 | (129) | | **Total net costs** | **24,266** | **212** | **24,478** | **23,187** |

Off-payroll engagements There were no off-payroll engagements in 2019-20 (2018-19: nil).

Staff pension arrangements The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme in which The National Archives is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities. A full actuarial valuation was carried out as at 31 March 2016. Details can be found in the resource accounts of the Cabinet Office: Civil Superannuation at www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/about-us/resource-accounts

For 2019-20, employers' contributions of £4.6m were payable in Accruing Superannuation Liability Charges (2018-19: £3.4m) at one of four rates in the range 26.6% to 30.3% (2018-19: 20.6% to 24.5%) of pensionable earnings, based on salary bands. The Scheme Actuary reviews employer contributions usually every four years following a full scheme valuation. The contribution rates reflect benefits as they are accrued, not when the costs are actually incurred, and reflect past experience of the scheme.

Employees can opt to open a partnership pension account, a stakeholder pension with an employer contribution. Employers' contributions of £0.07m (2018-19: £0.06m) were paid to the appointed stakeholder pension provider, Legal & General. Employer contributions are age-related and range from 8% to 14.75% of pensionable pay.

______________________________________________________________________

33 2019-20 includes £67k (2018-19: £71k) apprenticeship levy cost. The Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in April 2017, requiring employers with a pay bill of more than three million pounds each year to pay the levy. Employers also match employee contributions up to 3% of pensionable pay. In addition, employer contributions of £0.002m (2018-19: £0.002m) of pensionable pay, were payable to the PCSPS to cover the cost of the future provision of lump sum benefits on death in service or ill health retirement of these employees.

Contributions due to the partnership pension provider at the balance sheet date were £0.006m (2018-19: £0.006m). Contributions prepaid at that date were nil (2018-19: nil).

**Reporting of civil service and other compensation schemes – exit packages (audited)**

Details of the compensation scheme payments, and the number of departures during the year, and the previous year, are shown in the table below. Compensation agreed for departures did not exceed the Cabinet Office’s recommended cap of £95,000.

| Exit package cost band (£'000) | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |-------------------------------|---------|---------| | Compulsory redundancies | Other departures | Total | Compulsory redundancies | Other departures | Total | | < £10 | - | 1 | 1 | - | 7 | 7 | | £10 - £25 | - | - | - | - | 5 | 5 | | £25 - £50 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 6 | | £50 - £100 | - | - | - | - | 9 | 9 | | Total number of exit packages | - | 1 | 1 | - | 27 | 27 | | Total costs (£,000) | £- | £10 | £10 | £- | £935 | £935 |

Redundancy and other departure costs have been paid in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme; a statutory scheme made under the Superannuation Act 1972. Exit costs are accounted for in full in the year of departure. Where the department has agreed early retirements, the additional costs are met by the department and not by the Civil Service pension scheme. Ill health retirement costs are met by the pension scheme and are not included in the table. The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 (Statutory Instrument 328) report

Relevant union officials

| Number of employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period | Full-time equivalent employee number | |---|---| | 17 | 15.67 |

Percentage of time spent on facility time

| Percentage of time | Number of employees | |---|---| | 0% | 11 | | 1-50% | 6 | | 51%-99% | - | | 100% | - |

Percentage of pay bill spent on facility time

| Total cost of facility time | £6,877 | | Total pay bill | £24,478,000 | | Percentage of the total pay bill spend on facility time | 0.03% |

Paid trade union activities

| Time spent on paid trade union activities as a percentage of total paid facility time | 0% | 2.3 Parliamentary accountability and audit report

Statement of Parliamentary Supply (audited)

In addition to the primary statements prepared under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) requires The National Archives to prepare a Statement of Parliamentary Supply (SoPS) and supporting notes.

The SoPS and related notes are subject to audit, as detailed in the Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the House of Commons.

The SoPS is a key accountability statement that shows, in detail, how an entity has spent against their Supply Estimate. Supply is the monetary provision (for resource and capital purposes) and cash (drawn primarily from the Consolidated fund), that Parliament gives statutory authority for entities to utilise. The Estimate details supply and is voted on by Parliament at the start of the financial year.

Should an entity exceed the limits set by their Supply Estimate, called control limits, their accounts will receive a qualified opinion.

The format of the SoPS mirrors the Supply Estimates, published on gov.uk, to enable comparability between what Parliament approves and the final outturn.

The SoPS contain a summary table, detailing performance against the control limits that Parliament has voted on, cash spent (budgets are compiled on an accruals basis and outturn won't exactly tie to cash spend) and administration.

The supporting notes detail the following: Outturn by Estimate line, providing a more detailed breakdown (note 1); a reconciliation of outturn to net operating expenditure in the SOCNE, to tie the SoPS to the financial statements (note 2); and, a reconciliation of outturn to net cash requirement (note 3).

## Summary table, 2019-20, all figures presented in £000’s

| Type of spend | SoPS note | Outturn | Estimate | Voted outturn vs Estimate, Savings/ (excess) | Prior Year Outturn Total, 2018-19 | |---------------|-----------|---------|----------|---------------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | | | Voted | Non-Voted| Total | Voted | Non-Voted | Total | | | | **Departmental Expenditure Limit** | | | | | | | | | | | Resource 1.1 | - | 35,997 | - | 35,997 | 37,627 | - | 37,627 | 1,630 | 34,497 | | Capital 1.2 | - | 2,836 | - | 2,836 | 3,200 | - | 3,200 | 364 | 2,765 | | **Total** | | 38,833 | - | 38,833 | 40,827 | - | 40,827 | 1,994 | 37,262 | | **Annually Managed Expenditure** | | | | | | | | | | | Resource 1.1 | - | (10) | - | (10) | - | - | - | 10 | (16) | | Capital 1.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | **Total** | | (10) | - | (10) | - | - | - | 10 | (16) | | **Total Budget** | | | | | | | | | | | Resource 1.1 | - | 35,987 | - | 35,987 | 37,627 | - | 37,627 | 1,640 | 34,481 | | Capital 1.2 | - | 2,836 | - | 2,836 | 3,200 | - | 3,200 | 364 | 2,765 | | **Total Budget Expenditure** | | 38,823 | - | 38,823 | 40,827 | - | 40,827 | 2,004 | 37,246 | Figures in the areas outlined in thick line cover the voted control limits voted by Parliament. Refer to the Supply Estimates guidance manual, available on GOV.UK, for detail on the control limits voted by Parliament.

**Net Cash Requirement 2019-20 – all figures presented in £000’s**

| Item | SoPS note | Outturn | Estimate | Outturn vs Estimate, saving (excess) | Prior Year outturn Total, 2018-19 | |-----------------------|-----------|---------|----------|-------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | Net Cash requirement | 3 | 32,817 | 32,827 | 10 | 31,267 |

**Administration costs 2019-20 – all figures presented in £000’s**

| Item | SoPS note | Outturn | Estimate | Outturn vs Estimate, saving (excess) | Prior Year outturn Total, 2018-19 | |-----------------------|-----------|---------|----------|-------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | Administrative costs | 1.1 | 9,423 | 10,230 | 807 | 8,859 |

Although not a separate voted limit, any breach of the administration budget will also result in an excess vote. Notes to the Statement of Parliamentary Supply, 2019-20

SOPS1. Outturn detail, by Estimate Line

SOPS1.1 Analysis of net resource outturn – all figures presented in £000s

| Type of spend (Resource) | Resource outturn | Estimate | Outturn vs Estimate, saving (excess) | Prior Year Outturn Total 2018-19 | |-------------------------|------------------|----------|--------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | | Administration | | | | | | Gross | Income | Net | Total | Total | Outturn vs Estimate, saving (excess) | Prior Year Outturn Total 2018-19 | | | Gross | Income | Net | Total | Total | | | | Spending in Departmental Expenditure Limits | | | | | | | | | Voted expenditure | 9,514 | (91) | 9,423 | 39,967 | (13,393) | 26,574 | 35,997 | 37,627 | 1,630 | 34,497 | | Spending in Annually Managed Expenditure | | | | | | | | | Voted expenditure | - | - | - | (10) | (10) | (10) | - | 10 | (16) | | Total resource | 9,514 | (91) | 9,423 | 39,957 | (13,393) | 26,564 | 35,987 | 37,627 | 1,640 | 34,481 | The outturn was affected by the inability to complete certain projects due to the supply chain as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, and the building’s closure in the latter half of March 2020. This further disrupted the programme of activities and public access. Excluding ring-fenced depreciation, resource outturn was underspent against estimate by 0.9m.

The underspend is further explained by the actual depreciation charge compared to Estimate. The Spending Review allocation of depreciation was a flat amount, and each year The National Archives is required to adjust this in its Supplementary Estimate.

At Supplementary Estimate additional depreciation funding was allocated to the sum of £1.8m; the total depreciation increasing to £7.0m. The total depreciation charge in year was £6.3m, therefore an underspend of £0.7m in the year. The depreciation charge in 2019-20 was lower than anticipated due to the revaluation indexation rate applied to the property.

### SoPS1.2 Analysis of capital outturn – all figures presented in £000s

| Type of spend | Outturn | Estimate | Outturn vs Estimate, saving (excess) Total | Prior Year Outturn Total, 2018-19 | |---------------------------------------------------|---------|----------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------| | | Gross | Income | Total | Total | | Spending in Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) | | | | | | Voted expenditure | 2,836 | - | 2,836 | 3,200 | | Spending in Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) | | | | | | Voted expenditure | - | - | - | - | | Total Capital | 2,836 | - | 2,836 | 3,200 |

No virements have been made by The National Archives. Virements are the reallocation of provision in the Estimates that do not require parliamentary authority (because Parliament does not vote to that level of detail and delegates to HM Treasury). Further information on virements is provided in the Supply Estimates Manual which is available on GOV.UK. SOPS2. Reconciliation of outturn to net operating expenditure – all figures presented in £000s

| Item | Reference | Outturn total | Prior Year Outturn Total 2018-19 | |------|-----------|---------------|----------------------------------| | Total Resource outturn | SoPS1.1 | 35,987 | 34,481 | | Depreciation charged to Other Comprehensive Net Expenditure | | (2) | (2) | | Net Operating Expenditure in Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure | SOCNE | 35,985 | 34,479 |

As noted in the introduction to the SoPS above, outturn and the Estimates are compiled against the budgeting framework, which is similar to, but different from IFRS. Therefore, the reconciliation bridges the resource outturn to net operating expenditure, linking the SoPS to the financial statements.

Reconciling figures in both 2018-19 and 2019-20 relate to depreciation on donated assets charged directly to Other Comprehensive Net Expenditure.

SOPS3. Reconciliation of net resource outturn to net cash requirement – all figures presented in £000s

| Item | SoPS note | Outturn total | Estimate | Outturn vs Estimate, saving (excess) | |------|-----------|---------------|----------|-------------------------------------| | Total Resource outturn | 1.1 | 35,987 | 37,627 | 1,640 | | Total Capital outturn | 1.2 | 2,836 | 3,200 | 364 |

Adjustments to remove non-cash items:

- Depreciation: (6,258) (7,000) (742)
- Adjustment to previous provisions: (1) - 1
- Other non-cash items: (75) - 75

Adjustments to reflect movements in working balances:

- Increase/(decrease) in inventories: 19 - (19)
- Increase/(decrease) in receivables: (1,289) - 1,289
- Increase/(decrease) in contract assets: (161) - 161
- (Increase)/decrease in payables: 466 (1,000) (1,466)
- (Increase)/decrease in contract liabilities: 1,280 - (1,280)
- Use of provisions: 13 - (13)

Net cash requirement: 32,817 32,827 10

As noted in the introduction to the SoPS above, outturn and the Estimate are compiled against the budgeting framework, not on a cash basis. Therefore, this reconciliation bridges the resource and capital outturn to the net cash requirement. Parliamentary Accountability Disclosures (audited)

**Losses and special payments** There were no losses or special payments on an individual or cumulative basis that require disclosure because of their size or nature during 2019-20 (2018-19: nil).

**Remote contingent liabilities** In addition to contingent liabilities within the meaning of IAS 37, we also report liabilities for which the likelihood of a transfer of economic benefit in settlement is too remote to meet the definition of contingent liability. In the year 2019-20, there were no remote contingent liabilities to report (2018-19: nil).

Jeff James, Accounting Officer, 16 July 2020 The Certificate and Report of The Comptroller and Auditor General to The House Of Commons

Opinion on financial statements I certify that I have audited the financial statements of The National Archives for the year ended 31 March 2020 under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. The financial statements comprise: Statements of Comprehensive Net Expenditure, Financial Position, Cash Flows, Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity; and the related notes, including the significant accounting policies. These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out within them.

I have also audited the Statement of Parliamentary Supply and the related notes, and the information in the Accountability Report that is described in that report as having been audited.

In my opinion: ■ the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs as at 31 March 2020 and of the Department’s net operating expenditure for the year then ended; and

■ the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 and HM Treasury directions issued thereunder.

Emphasis of Matter – Valuation of land, buildings ■ I draw attention to the disclosures in note 5 of the financial statements highlighting the increased uncertainty in valuation of land and buildings due to the impact of COVID-19. Comparative information used as the basis of the indices used in the revaluation of these assets is considered less reliable leading to an increase in uncertainty. My opinion is not modified in respect of this matter.

Opinion on regularity In my opinion, in all material respects: ■ the Statement of Parliamentary Supply properly presents the outturn against voted Parliamentary control totals for the year ended 31 March 2020 and shows that those totals have not been exceeded; and

■ the income and expenditure recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.

Basis of opinions I conducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) (UK) and Practice Note 10 ‘Audit of Financial Statements of Public Sector Entities in the United Kingdom’. My responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of my certificate. Those standards require me and my staff to comply with the Financial Reporting Council’s Revised Ethical Standard 2016. I am independent of The National Archives in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to my audit and the financial statements in the UK. My staff and I have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion. Conclusions relating to going concern

I have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require me to report to you where:

■ The National Archives’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or

■ The National Archives have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about The National Archives’ ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Responsibilities of the Accounting Officer for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities the Accounting Officer is responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

My responsibility is to audit, certify and report on the financial statements in accordance with the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.

An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists.

Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (UK), I exercise professional judgment and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. I also:

■ identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

■ obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of The National Archives’ internal control.

■ evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by management.

■ evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the consolidated financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation. Conclude on the appropriateness of The National Archives’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on The National Archives’ ability to continue as a going concern. If I conclude that a material uncertainty exists, I am required to draw attention in my report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify my opinion. My conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of my report. However, future events or conditions may cause The National Archives to cease to continue as a going concern.

I communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that I identify during my audit.

I am required to obtain evidence sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the Statement of Parliamentary Supply properly presents the outturn against voted Parliamentary control totals and that those totals have not been exceeded. The voted Parliamentary control totals are Departmental Expenditure Limits (Resource and Capital), Annually Managed Expenditure (Resource and Capital), Non-Budget (Resource) and Net Cash Requirement. I am also required to obtain evidence sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the expenditure and income recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.

Other information

The Accounting Officer is responsible for the other information. The other information comprises information included in the annual report but does not include the parts of the Accountability Report described in that report as having been audited, the financial statements and my auditor’s report thereon. My opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and I do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with my audit of the financial statements, my responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or my knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If, based on the work I have performed, I conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, I am required to report that fact. I have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinion on other matters

In my opinion:

- the parts of the Accountability Report to be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with HM Treasury directions made under the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000;

- in the light of the knowledge and understanding of The National Archives and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, I have not identified any material misstatements in the Performance Report or the Accountability Report; and

- the information given in the Performance and Accountability Reports for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements. Matters on which I report by exception I have nothing to report in respect of the following matters which I report to you if, in my opinion:

■ adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for my audit have not been received from branches not visited by my staff; or

■ the financial statements and the parts of the Accountability Report to be audited are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

■ I have not received all of the information and explanations I require for my audit; or

■ the Governance Statement does not reflect compliance with HM Treasury’s guidance.

Report I have no observations to make on these financial statements.

Gareth Davies 17 July 2020 Comptroller and Auditor General

National Audit Office 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road Victoria London SW1W 9SP Financial statements

### Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2020

| Note | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |------|---------|---------| | | £000 | £000 | | Revenue from contracts with customers | 4 | (9,148) | (6,560) | | Other operating income | 4 | (4,336) | (3,721) | | **Total operating income** | | (13,484) | (10,281) | | Staff costs | 3 | 24,478 | 23,187 | | Purchase of goods and services | 3 | 18,659 | 15,068 | | Depreciation, provisions and audit charges | 3 | 6,332 | 6,505 | | **Total operating expenditure** | | 49,469 | 44,760 | | **Net operating expenditure** | | 35,985 | 34,479 |

**Other comprehensive net expenditure**

Items that will not be reclassified to net operating expenditure:

- Net gain on revaluation of property, plant and equipment | 5 | (3,240) | (4,748) |
- Net (gain)/loss on revaluation of intangible assets | 6 | 454 | (5,149) |
- Depreciation of donated asset | 2 | 2 |

**Comprehensive net operating expenditure for the year** | | 33,201 | 24,584 |

The notes on pages 74 to 93 form part of these accounts.

### Statement of Financial Position as at 31 March 2020

| Note | 31 March 2020 | 31 March 2019 | |------|---------------|---------------| | | £000 | £000 | | **Non-current assets:** | | | | Property, plant and equipment | 5 | 165,223 | 166,273 | | Intangible assets | 6 | 26,867 | 26,453 | | Prepayments falling due after one year | 8 | 70 | 110 | | **Total non-current assets** | | 192,160 | 192,836 | | **Current assets:** | | | | Inventories | | 126 | 107 | | Trade and other receivables | 8 | 1,235 | 3,360 | | Contract assets | 8 | 749 | 910 | | Other current assets | 8 | 2,618 | 1,742 | | Cash and cash equivalents | | 10 | 10 | | **Total current assets** | | 4,738 | 6,129 | | **Total assets** | | 196,898 | 198,965 | | **Current liabilities** | | | | Trade and other payables | 9 | (1,027) | (2,013) | | Contract liabilities | 9 | (238) | (1,341) | | Provisions | 10 | (14) | (14) | | Other liabilities | 9 | (4,830) | (4,310) | | **Total current liabilities** | | (6,109) | (7,678) | | **Total assets less current liabilities** | | 190,789 | 191,287 | | **Non-current liabilities:** | | | | Contract liabilities | 9 | (452) | (629) | | Provisions | 10 | (167) | (179) | | **Total non-current liabilities** | | (619) | (808) | | **Total assets less liabilities** | | 190,170 | 190,479 | | **Taxpayers’ equity and other reserves:** | | | | General fund | | 58,015 | 58,994 | | Donated asset reserve | | 1 | 3 | | Revaluation reserve | | 132,154 | 131,482 | | **Total equity** | | 190,170 | 190,479 |

The notes on pages 74 to 93 form part of these accounts.

Jeff James, Accounting Officer, 16 July 2020

### Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended 31 March 2020

| Note | 2019-20 £000 | 2018-19 £000 | |------|--------------|--------------| | **Cash flows from operating activities** | | | | Net operating expenditure | (35,985) | (34,479) | | Adjustments for non-cash transactions | 6,332 | 6,505 | | (Increase)/decrease in trade and other receivables | 8 | 1,289 | (1,581) | | (Increase)/decrease in contract assets | 8 | 161 | (905) | | Increase in inventories | (19) | (1) | | Increase/(decrease) in trade and other payables | 9 | (643) | 1,339 | | Increase/(decrease) in contract liabilities | 9 | (1,103) | 618 | | Use of provisions | 10 | (13) | (4) | | **Less movements in payables relating to items not passing through the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure** | - | 3 | | **Less movements in fixed assets relating to items not passing through the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure** | - | 3 | | **Net cash outflow from operating activities** | (29,981) | (28,502) | | **Cash flows from investing activities** | | | | Purchase of property, plant and equipment | 5 | (1,812) | (2,197) | | Purchase of intangible assets | 6 | (1,024) | (568) | | **Net cash outflow from investing activities** | | (2,836) | (2,765) | | **Cash flows from financing activities** | | | | From the Consolidated Fund (Supply) — current year | 32,817 | 31,264 | | Payment of Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts | - | - | | **Net financing** | 32,817 | 31,264 | | **Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the period before adjustment for receipts and payments to the Consolidated Fund** | - | (3) | | Payments of amounts due to the Consolidated Fund | - | - | | **Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the period** | 10 | 13 | | **Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period** | 10 | 10 |

### Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity for the year ended 31 March 2020

| Note | General Fund | Revaluation Reserve | Donated Asset Reserve | Taxpayers’ equity | |------|--------------|---------------------|-----------------------|------------------| | | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | **Balance at 31 March 2018** | 60,123 | 123,598 | 5 | 183,726 | | Net Parliamentary funding | 31,267 | - | - | 31,267 | | Comprehensive net expenditure for the year | (34,479) | 9,897 | (2) | (24,584) | | Auditor’s remuneration | 3 | 70 | - | - | 70 | | Transfers between reserves | 2,013 | (2,013) | - | - | | **Balance at 31 March 2019** | 58,994 | 131,482 | 3 | 190,479 | | Net Parliamentary funding | 32,817 | - | - | 32,817 | | Comprehensive net expenditure for the year | (35,985) | 2,786 | (2) | (33,201) | | Auditor’s remuneration | 3 | 75 | - | - | 75 | | Transfers between reserves | 2,114 | (2,114) | - | - | | **Balance at 31 March 2020** | 58,015 | 132,154 | 1 | 190,170 |

The revaluation reserve records the gain or loss on the revaluation of assets. The depreciation charge on the revalued asset will be different to the depreciation that would have been charged, based on the historical cost of the asset. Each year, we transfer an amount equal to the excess annual depreciation from the revaluation reserve to the general fund, which makes sure that by the time the asset is fully depreciated, there is no residual balance associated with the asset in the revaluation reserve. The general fund accounts for all other changes in financial resources.

The notes on pages 74 to 93 form part of these accounts. Notes to the Departmental Resource Accounts

1. Statement of accounting policies, key accounting estimates and judgements

1.1 Statement of accounting policies These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the 2019-20 Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) and Accounts Direction issued by HM Treasury under section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. The accounting policies contained in the FReM apply International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adapted or interpreted for the public sector context.

The accounting policies adopted by The National Archives are described below. Where the FReM permits a choice of accounting policy, the accounting policy that is judged to be most appropriate to the particular circumstances of The National Archives for the purpose of giving a true and fair view has been selected. They have been applied consistently in dealing with items considered material in relation to the accounts.

In addition to the primary statements prepared under IFRS, the FReM also requires the department to prepare an additional primary statement. The Statement of Parliamentary Supply and supporting notes show outturn against Estimate in terms of the net resource requirement and the net cash requirement.

1.2 Basis of preparation These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention modified to account for any material revaluation of assets and liabilities to fair value in accordance with the standards, and subject to interpretations and adaptions of those standards contained in the FReM. Transactions denominated in foreign currency are accounted for at the Stirling equivalent at the exchange rate ruling at the time of the transaction. Differences on translation of balances are recognised as operating costs within the Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure.

Going concern In common with other government departments, The National Archives' liabilities are expected to be met by future grants of supply and the application of future income, both to be approved annually by Parliament. There is no reason to believe that future Parliamentary approval will not be forthcoming, and therefore, in accordance with FReM 2.2.3, it has been concluded as appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of preparation for these accounts.

1.3 New and revised standards issued but not effective Certain new standards, interpretations and amendments to existing standards have been published that The National Archives will be required to apply on or after 1 April 2020 or later periods, following EU adoption and as applied by the FReM. These standards are not expected to have a material impact on The National Archives’ future accounts. They are as follows:

IFRS 16 Leases HM Treasury announced in April 2020 the adoption of IFRS 16 Leases by the FReM is delayed from 1 April 2020 to 1 April 2021. Adoption of IFRS 16 will result in the recognition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for all contracts that are, or contain, a lease. For leases currently classified as operating leases, under current accounting requirements The National Archives does not recognise related assets or liabilities, and instead spreads the lease payments on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

**IFRS 16 application**

IFRS 16 is to be applied retrospectively with no restatement. The cumulative effects of initially applying the Standard recognised at 1 April 2020 is an adjustment to the opening balance of Taxpayers' Equity.

**The National Archives as a lessee**

The National Archives has carried out an initial assessment of the new standard and has concluded that there are no significant leases impacting the financial statements.

The National Archives has an onerous lease recognised as a provision under IAS 37 Provision, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets on a property vacated in Norwich. With reference to the expedient detailed in IFRS 16 (C3), the lease was not treated under IAS 17, and will therefore not fall under consideration for IFRS 16.

**The National Archives as a lessor**

The National Archives currently recognises income from a licence of intellectual property (*The Gazette*) as an operating lease under IAS 17. This income will be accounted in accordance with IFRS 15 once IFRS 16 is adopted.

The National Archives does not act as a finance lessor.

**Accounting policies for expenditure**

**1.4 Staff costs**

Staff costs include wages and salaries, social security costs and pension costs. All short-term staff costs payable at the year end, which will be paid within one year from the date of reporting, are recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure. These include any accrued leave entitlements.

**1.5 Pensions**

The provisions of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) cover most past and present employees in The National Archives. While this is an unfunded defined benefit scheme, in accordance with the FReM adaptation of IAS 19, The National Archives accounts for it as a defined contribution scheme. The National Archives recognises contributions payable as an expense in the year in which they are incurred, and the legal or constructive obligation is limited to the amount that it agrees to contribute to the fund.

For employees who retire early the Civil Service Compensation Scheme requires the department to pay over a lump sum to PCSPS to cover these costs in full following agreement of the departure and therefore these transactions are expensed when they occur.

**1.6 Value Added Tax (VAT) on purchases**

Most of the activities of the department are outside the scope of VAT and, in general output tax does not apply and input tax on purchases is not recoverable. Irrecoverable VAT is charged to the relevant expenditure category or included in the capitalised purchase price of non-current assets.

**Accounting policies for income**

**1.7 Revenue recognition**

Revenue principally comprises contracted charges for services provided for the sale of copies of documents, sale of publications and other items and services, reproduction fees and income generated by the licensing of digital copies of historical records. Costs associated with the contracted revenue are recognised in the same accounting period.

Operating income also includes grants and contributions from organisations, including other government departments, to carry out specific projects.

Further details of The National Archives recognition of contracted income are set out in note 4.

1.8 Lessor income The National Archives acts as lessor on a concessionary contract (The Gazette) whereby in return for letting the concession The National Archives receives a financial contribution.

The contract is classified as an operating lease under IAS 17. The guaranteed revenue generated from the contract is recognised on a straight-line basis and the variable element is recognised as publishing rights are granted.

The National Archives does not act as a finance lessor.

1.9 Value Added Tax (VAT) on sales Where output tax is chargeable, income is stated net of VAT. The National Archives does not charge any VAT for any work it carries out under statute.

Accounting policies for assets and liabilities

1.10 Property, plant and equipment Property, plant and equipment other than land and buildings consist of plant and machinery, furniture and fittings, transport and equipment, and computers and equipment are stated at cost or revalued amount less depreciation.

Expenditure on restoration and conservation work is part of the normal operating costs of The National Archives and is not capitalised; it is recorded as part of programme costs.

The National Archives building and grounds at Kew are freehold property. There are no leased assets recognised in the Statement of Financial Position.

Land and buildings are stated at fair value using professional valuations every five years at a minimum. Appropriate indices are applied in intervening years.

The minimum level for capitalisation of an individual, tangible non-current asset is £5,000. Where bulk purchases are made for individual assets whose unit costs are below the threshold, but in aggregate exceed £30,000 within a financial year, the assets are capitalised.

Directly attributable costs incurred in bringing the asset to the location and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating are also capitalised. This includes the costs of external contractors who deliver on information technology projects as well as salaries of internal staff working 100% of their time on particular capital projects. Depreciation

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the valuation of freehold buildings and other non-current assets by equal instalments over their estimated useful lives. Freehold land and assets in the course of construction are not depreciated.

Asset lives are in the following ranges:

| Asset Type | Life Range | |-----------------------------|-------------| | Buildings | up to 40 years | | Computers and equipment | up to 5 years | | Plant and machinery | up to 25 years | | Furniture, fixtures and fittings | up to 50 years | | Transport equipment | up to 10 years |

Tangible assets are subject to annual review to assess at each reporting date whether there is any indication that the asset is impaired, as required by International Accounting Standard 36: Impairment of Assets.

1.11 Heritage assets

The National Archives holds more than 11 million physical records, artefacts and a significant and growing digital archive classed as non-operational heritage assets which are held in order to fulfil our statutory function which includes ensuring that important information is preserved and that it can be accessed and used.

Records in our collection have been catalogued and contain descriptions of a broad range of documents and items. Further details of our online catalogue, Discovery, can be found at: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk

In the opinion of The National Archives’ Board, reliable information on cost or valuation is not available for the department’s collection of heritage assets. This is due to the diverse nature of the assets held, the lack of information on purchase cost (as the assets are not purchased), the lack of comparable market values, and the volume of items held. As well as the aforementioned, any market value placed on these assets would not be a true reflection of the value of the assets to the nation’s heritage; the assets, if lost, could not be replaced or reconstructed. These assets are therefore not reported in the Statement of Financial Position.

Certain items within the overall collection are of particular significance, including Domesday Book, one of our most prized national treasures, which has been preserved for over nine centuries and is now cared for at Kew; two contemporary versions of Magna Carta; unique records of official treaties; and a host of irreplaceable social records. Further details of the preservation and management of our heritage assets are provided in note 7 of the accounts.

1.12 Intangible assets

Intangible assets comprise software licences purchased from third parties, amortised over the life of the licence, and the cost of developing internal software assets, amortised on a straight-line basis over the useful economic life of the asset.

In addition, The National Archives recognises licences issued to third parties and internal revenue generating databases (such as our Digital Download and Image Library services) as intangible assets with indefinite lives, reflecting their underlying nature of supporting public records. Asset lives are in the following ranges:

| Asset Type | Life Range | |-----------------------------------|------------------| | Software licences | up to 5 years | | Internally developed software | up to 10 years | | Licences issued to third parties | indefinite | | Internal revenue-generating databases | indefinite |

The valuation adopted for licences issued to third parties and internal revenue generating databases is based on current forecasts of reasonably foreseeable future revenue generating capacity, discounted as appropriate.

Each intangible asset is subject to annual review to assess at each reporting date whether there is any indication that the asset is impaired, as required by International Accounting Standard 36: Impairment of Assets. Further details of the effects of changes in our forecast estimates are shown under note 6 of the accounts.

1.13 Cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents comprise current balances held at the Government Bank Service. Any amounts held in foreign currency are translated into sterling at the exchange rate on the date of reporting.

1.14 Contract and trade receivables Contract receivables are amounts invoiced and due from software development, licenses, reprographics, record copying and document downloads. Lessor and other income which is due and has been invoiced is recognised as trade receivables.

1.15 Contract assets (accrued income) and liabilities (payment on account) Contract assets (accrued income) relates to our enforceable right to consideration for our completed performance in respect of contracts where that work has not yet been invoiced. It is determined on the basis of work undertaken at the period end, less any provision for unrecoverable amounts.

Payments received in advance of performance under the contract are recognised as contract liabilities (payment on account). This is then recognised as revenue as the work is performed.

1.16 Provisions and contingent liabilities Provisions represent liabilities of uncertain timing or amount. Provisions are recognised when The National Archives has a present legal or constructive obligation, as a result of past events, for which it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation, and a reliable estimate can be made of the amount. If the likelihood of payment is less than probable, but greater than remote, a contingent liability is disclosed in the accounts.

Provisions and contingent liabilities are valued at the best estimate of the expenditure required to settle the obligation. They are discounted to present value using rates set by HM Treasury, where the effect is material.

1.17 Third party assets The National Archives holds monetary assets on a temporary basis on behalf of other government departments for disbursement to them. These balances are related to arrangements for the collection and allocation of income that is generated by the licensing of Crown copyright material originated by departments and agencies that do not have delegated authority to license this material themselves. The Chief Executive and Keeper, Jeff James, is the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and has responsibility for the management and licensing of copyrights owned by the Crown in his capacity as Queen's Printer and Queen's Printer for Scotland. At 31 March 2020, the value of those cash assets was £17,789. In accordance with the FReM, as government has a beneficial interest in these assets, the balances are included in the accounts within cash and trade payables.

1.18 Significant accounting judgements, estimates and assumptions The preparation of financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, income and expenses. Actual results may differ from these estimates. The financial statements of The National Archives include estimates and assumptions that could influence the financial statements of subsequent financial years.

Estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised and in any future periods effected.

Non-current assets: Land and buildings are stated at fair value using professional valuations every five years at a minimum. Appropriate indices are used in intervening years. The selection of the indices used represents an accounting judgement and uncertainty in the valuation of land and buildings. For further information on the impact of COVID-19 on the valuation of land and buildings see note 5.

Intangible Assets: The valuations of licenses issued to third parties and internal revenue-generating databases are based on forecasts of probable future revenue generating capacity, which are uncertain. Further details in note 6.

Heritage assets: Reliable information on cost or valuation is not available for the department's collection of heritage assets and, accordingly, an accounting judgement has been made not to value these in the financial statements. Further details are in note 1.11.

Revenue recognition: As set out in note 4, IFRS 15 – Revenue from Contracts with Customers requires judgements and estimates. Judgement relates to the determination of performance obligations in each of the major revenue streams having the potential to impact the revenue recognition pattern under the contract. Assumptions are required to determine an appropriate measure of progress when determining how control over promised goods or services transfers to the customer. All of the above have the potential to result in a different revenue recognition pattern. 2. Statement of Operating Expenditure by Operating Segment

IFRS 8 Operating Segments requires operating segmental information to be provided based on information that the Chief Executive and Keeper as Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM) uses to make decisions about the organisation. This information reviewed by the CODM is currently presented based on our management structure as per pages 32 to 33. In order to aid readers’ understanding, the segments below have been presented in line with our public task, which can be summarised as: leading on policy and best practice in knowledge and information management for the public sector; preserving and protecting the record; and providing public access.

In accordance with IFRS 8, below is a schedule of income and expenditure against each identified segment. Overheads are allocated proportionally based on the direct costs of each segment.

| | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |----------------------|---------|---------| | | Government information management | Preservation and protection | Public access | Total | | Income | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | | (2,361) | (495) | (10,628)| (13,484)| | Operating expenditure| 8,628 | 16,464 | 18,121 | 43,213 | | Depreciation, amortisation and impairment | 1,249 | 2,383 | 2,624 | 6,256 | | Net operating cost | 7,516 | 18,352 | 10,117 | 35,985 | | | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | Income | (2,107) | (318) | (7,856) | (10,281)| | Operating expenditure| 8,065 | 14,905 | 15,345 | 38,315 | | Depreciation, amortisation and impairment | 1,357 | 2,507 | 2,581 | 6,445 | | Net operating cost | 7,315 | 17,094 | 10,070 | 34,479 |

### 3. Operating costs

| | 2019-20 £000 | 2018-19 £000 | |--------------------------|--------------|--------------| | **Staff Costs** | | | | Wages and salaries | 17,956 | 18,066 | | Social Security costs | 1,868 | 1,822 | | Other pension costs | 4,620 | 3,428 | | Secondment charges/(recoveries) | 34 | (129) | | | **24,478** | **23,187** | | **Purchase of goods and services** | | | | Goods and services | 6,042 | 6,029 | | Contracted services | 2,826 | 3,184 | | Building maintenance and costs | 3,403 | 3,436 | | Office supplies and equipment | 249 | 424 | | Technology cost | 2,082 | 1,984 | | Telecommunication | 198 | 174 | | Grants paid | 151 | 302 | | Public access | 613 | 389 | | Recruitment and training | 333 | 355 | | Travel, subsistence and hospitality | 362 | 325 | | Professional expenses | 154 | 82 | | Contract expenditure (IFRS 15) | 2,246 | (1,616) | | | **18,659** | **15,068** | | **Non-cash items:** | | | | Depreciation and amortisation | | | | - Civil estate | 3,959 | 3,850 | | - Other non-current assets | 2,297 | 2,595 | | Auditor’s remuneration — audit work | 75 | 70 | | Loss on disposal of non-current assets | - | 4 | | Change to onerous lease provision | 1 | (14) | | | **6,332** | **6,505** | | | **49,469** | **44,760** |

**Contract expenditure**

In accordance with IFRS 15, revenue and costs relating to a software development contract spanning three years were held as a contract liability in the Statement of Financial Position until the performance obligation was met this financial year. In 2017-18, £630,000 costs incurred and a further £1,616,000 costs in 2018-19 were released from contract liabilities (total £2,246,000) and are shown in operating costs above.

No fees have been paid to auditors for non-audit work.

Further analysis on staff numbers, compensation scheme packages and pension disclosure can be found on pages 53 to 56, within the accountability report. 4. Income

The following are descriptions of the principal contracted activities, their associated performance obligations and significant payment terms under IFRS 15.

| Revenue stream | Timing of performance obligations and significant payment terms | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Software development. Preparation of records and the development of a website for use by commercial partner. | Revenue is recognised once control of the software has passed to the commercial partner. Billing is in line with costs incurred. Project revenue and costs are deferred until ownership has passed. | | Licensing royalties. Commercial partners use accessioned content on their websites or within their online products and pay royalties to us when our subscribers use this content, or customers purchase their products. | Revenue is recognised in line with usage/sales, and billing arrangements vary from a monthly to annual basis. | | Record copying (statutory provision). Paper or digital copies of accessioned records. | Revenue is recognised when the copies are distributed to customers. Billing takes place prior to distribution of the copies. | | Reprographics. A digitisation service for bulk orders from third parties. The records can belong to us or external parties. | Revenue is recognised once the copies are provided to the third party and typically billed in advance. | | Licensing resales. The initial commercial partner is required to provide us with a digitised copy of the images from which we can sell to an additional partner for a lump sum and benefit from further royalties. | The lump sum is received in advance and recognised at the time of granting the licence and images, unless we require the images to be updated over the period in which the commercial partner has access to the licenced material. In such cases, the lump sum is recognised over the period of the licence. | | Revenue from contracts with customers | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |--------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Software Development | 3,056 | - | | Licensing royalties | 2,784 | 3,082 | | Record copying | 561 | 606 | | Reprographics | 480 | 297 | | Licensing resales | 329 | 715 | | Storage income | 307 | 294 | | Statutory printing | 283 | 219 | | Document downloads | 265 | 356 | | Shop income | 244 | 255 | | Other | 839 | 736 | | **Total** | **9,148** | **6,560** |

| Other income | | | |--------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Fees charged to other government departments | 341 | 246 | | Grant income | 410 | 221 | | Apprenticeship levy notional income | 51 | 59 | | Lessor income | 3,534 | 3,195 | | **Total** | **13,484** | **10,281** |

The receipt of £3,056,000 for software development straddled two financial years and is included as a contract liability (payment on account) in the prior year Statement of Financial Position. In accordance with IFRS 15 the revenue was released once the performance obligation was met this year. The revenue is derived from a single commercial partner and exceeds 10% of the total revenue.

## 5. Property, plant and equipment

| | Land | Buildings | Plant and machinery | Furniture fixtures and fittings | Transport equipment | Computers and equipment | Assets under construction | Total | |----------------------|-------|-----------|---------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------|--------| | | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | **Cost or valuation**| | | | | | | | | | At 1 April 2019 | 42,864| 122,718 | 10,283 | 10,249 | 61 | 10,693 | - | 196,868| | Additions | - | 252 | 289 | 76 | - | 148 | 1,047 | 1,812 | | Disposals | - | - | (86) | (2) | - | - | - | (88) | | Revaluation | 900 | 2,583 | - | - | - | - | - | 3,483 | | **At 31 March 2020** | 43,764| 125,553 | 10,486 | 10,323 | 61 | 10,841 | 1,047 | 202,075| | **Depreciation** | | | | | | | | | | At 1 April 2019 | - | 11,551 | 5,927 | 4,773 | 61 | 8,283 | - | 30,595 | | Charged in year | - | 3,928 | 776 | 508 | - | 890 | - | 6,102 | | Disposals | - | - | (86) | (2) | - | - | - | (88) | | Revaluation | - | 243 | - | - | - | - | - | 243 | | **At 31 March 2020** | - | 15,722 | 6,617 | 5,279 | 61 | 9,173 | - | 36,852 | | **Net book value** | | | | | | | | | | At 31 March 2020 | 43,764| 109,831 | 3,869 | 5,044 | - | 1,668 | 1,047 | 165,223| | At 31 March 2019 | 42,864| 111,167 | 4,356 | 5,476 | - | 2,410 | - | 166,273|

| | Land | Buildings | Plant and machinery | Furniture fixtures and fittings | Transport equipment | Computers and equipment | Assets under construction | Total | |----------------------|-------|-----------|---------------------|---------------------------------|---------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------|--------| | | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | **Cost or valuation**| | | | | | | | | | At 31 March 2018 | 41,575| 119,028 | 13,096 | 7,948 | 61 | 8,073 | - | 189,781| | Reclassification | - | - | (3,778) | 1,870 | - | 1,908 | - | - | | At 1 April 2018 | 41,575| 119,028 | 9,318 | 9,818 | 61 | 9,981 | - | 189,781| | Additions | - | - | 965 | 431 | - | 801 | - | 2,197 | | Disposals | - | - | - | - | - | (89) | - | (89) | | Revaluation | 1,289 | 3,690 | - | - | - | - | - | 4,979 | | **At 31 March 2019** | 42,864| 122,718 | 10,283 | 10,249 | 61 | 10,693 | - | 196,868| | **Depreciation** | | | | | | | | | | At 31 March 2018 | - | 7,470 | 6,746 | 3,659 | 61 | 6,168 | - | 24,104 | | Reclassification | - | - | (1,657) | 632 | - | 1,025 | - | - | | At 1 April 2018 | - | 7,470 | 5,089 | 4,291 | 61 | 7,193 | - | 24,104 | | Charged in year | - | 3,850 | 838 | 482 | - | 1,175 | - | 6,345 | | Disposals | - | - | - | - | - | (85) | - | (85) | | Revaluation | - | 231 | - | - | - | - | - | 231 | | **At 31 March 2019** | - | 11,551 | 5,927 | 4,773 | 61 | 8,283 | - | 30,595 | | **Net book value** | | | | | | | | | | At 31 March 2019 | 42,864| 111,167 | 4,356 | 5,476 | - | 2,410 | - | 166,273| | At 31 March 2018 | 41,575| 111,558 | 6,350 | 4,289 | - | 1,905 | - | 165,677| Notes

a) Freehold land and buildings were valued on 31 March 2016 at £141m on the basis of depreciated replacement cost for the buildings and the value of employment land in the area by an external firm of Chartered Surveyors, BNP Paribas Real Estate UK. Their valuation was carried out in accordance with the Appraisal and Valuation Manual issued by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In years where there is no professional valuation exercise, revaluation is derived from the relevant indices as appropriate. The outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted property markets with market activity being affected in many sectors. As at the valuation date, less weight can be attached to previous market evidence and published build cost information for comparison purposes to inform the estimation of asset values, which means less certainty and a higher degree of caution should be attached to the valuation.

b) Revaluation in year is accounted for within other comprehensive net expenditure (page 70) and accumulated in taxpayers’ equity under the revaluation reserve.

### 6. Intangible assets

| Software licences | Internal revenue-generating databases | Licences issued to third parties | Assets under construction | Total | |-------------------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------|---------------------------|-------| | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | **Cost or valuation** | | | | | | At 1 April 2019 | 654 | 1,555 | 24,259 | 342 | 26,810 | | Additions | 189 | - | - | 835 | 1,024 | | Impairment | - | - | - | - | - | | Revaluation | - | (766) | 312 | - | (454) | | **At 31 March 2020** | **843** | **789** | **24,571** | **1,177** | **27,380** | | **Amortisation** | | | | | | | At 1 April 2019 | 357 | - | - | - | 357 | | Charged in year | 156 | - | - | - | 156 | | Impairment | - | - | - | - | - | | **At 31 March 2020** | **513** | - | - | - | **513** | | **Net book value**| | | | | | | 31 March 2020 | 330 | 789 | 24,571 | 1,177 | 26,867 | | 31 March 2019 | 297 | 1,555 | 24,259 | 342 | 26,453 |

| Software licences | Internal revenue-generating databases | Licences issued to third parties | Assets under construction | Total | |-------------------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------|---------------------------|-------| | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | £000 | | **Cost or valuation** | | | | | | At 1 April 2018 | 431 | 1,540 | 19,125 | - | 21,096 | | Additions | 226 | - | - | 342 | 568 | | Impairment | (3) | - | - | - | (3) | | Revaluation | - | 15 | 5,134 | - | 5,149 | | **At 31 March 2019** | **654** | **1,555** | **24,259** | **342** | **26,810** | | **Amortisation** | | | | | | | At 1 April 2018 | 255 | - | - | - | 255 | | Charged in year | 102 | - | - | - | 102 | | Impairment | - | - | - | - | - | | **At 31 March 2019** | **357** | - | - | - | **357** | | **Net book value**| | | | | | | 31 March 2019 | 297 | 1,555 | 24,259 | 342 | 26,453 | | 31 March 2018 | 176 | 1,540 | 19,125 | - | 20,841 |

Assets under construction relates to internally generated software to be depreciated once ready for use.

Revaluation in year is accounted for within other comprehensive net expenditure and accumulated in taxpayers’ equity under the revaluation reserve. Any decrease in valuation of an asset in year has not exceeded any amount previously credited to the revaluation surplus.

The intangible asset valuations of revenue-generating databases and licences issued to third parties are based on forecasts of future revenue generating capacity, discounted as appropriate. The forecast cashflows estimated are subject to market conditions as they are dependent on customer use of the products offered – both existing and new.

Below is a sensitivity analysis of the effects of changes in the forecast assumptions on the amounts disclosed in the accounts.

| Market risk – assumptions tested | Increase/(decrease) in 2019-20 valuation £000 | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------| | 2019-20 income 10% less than forecast for revenue generating databases | (134) | | 2019-20 income 10% higher than forecast for revenue generating databases | 134 | | 2019-20 income 10% less than forecast for licences issued | (2,724) | | 2019-20 income 10% higher than forecast for licences issued | 2,724 |

IAS 36 requires an intangible assets with an indefinite useful economic life to be tested for impairment annually and whenever there is an indication that the asset may be impaired, by comparing its carrying amount with its recoverable amount. As a result of undertaking this exercise there is no impairment to the value of the assets.

7. Further information on heritage assets

7a) Preservation and management Acquisition of heritage assets is through government bodies selecting digital and physical records for permanent preservation and transferring these records to The National Archives. In January 2013, central government began a ten-year transition, during which the age at which records would usually be transferred to The National Archives and released to the public is being reduced from 30 years to 20 years (however, many are transferred early).

The National Archives is the guardian of the nation’s public records. Its core role includes preserving and protecting, making available, and bringing to life the vast collection of historical information it holds. Most of the records are unique and irreplaceable and have been preserved for their historical, social, legal and administrative value. This includes significant collections of digital records.

We adopt a risk-based approach in preserving our digital and physical records. This consists of conducting a preservation risk assessment for whole collections which are subsequently reviewed periodically – and for digital records, on a continual and regular basis. The National Archives adopts a combined approach of preventative measures and conservation treatments for records in their digital and physical forms.

Expenditure that is required to preserve or clearly prevent further deterioration of individual collection items is recognised in the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure when it is incurred. In 2019-20 £1.98m was recognised (2018-19: £1.78m). Our approach to preservation risk

Physical records The physical records held by The National Archives span over 1,000 years and fill around 200 linear kilometres of shelving on site at Kew and at the Deepstore facility in Cheshire. They comprise a variety of formats: parchment, traditional paper records, seals, maps, costumes, paintings, films, items of court evidence, and more.

The conservation, preservation and care of this unique and irreplaceable collection is a challenging responsibility, given the age and original condition of some of the physical materials. In order to fulfil our responsibilities to provide access, we are constantly improving our catalogue data, and monitoring the environmental conditions in our repositories. We have a dedicated team responsible for the long-term preservation of The National Archives’ physical collection for continued access and future use, and we improve the stability of our most vulnerable records through conservation work.

We seek appropriate and secure accommodation for all our holdings, wherever they are stored, processed, transferred, transported or used. This includes providing suitable environmental conditions and appropriate housing. It also includes monitoring via an integrated pest management programme and an environmental monitoring system. We recognise that of all potential risks to the long-term preservation of our records, inappropriate storage is the most significant.

In the year to March 2020, we received records covering 2,018 metres of shelving (1,343 metres in 2018-19).

The Secretary of State has delegated their power at section 2(4)(g) of the Public Records Act 1958 to the Chief Executive of The National Archives (in his capacity as Keeper of Public Records). The Chief Executive therefore has delegated authority to lend documents for display at exhibitions. All loans are conducted in accordance with our exhibitions policy and are subject to criteria agreed with Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport officials, in line with the loans polices of other major cultural heritage institutions.

Digital records The National Archives takes a leading role in dealing with the issues associated with the survival and preservation of today's digital public records.

Our digital preservation techniques and policies follow current best practice, as recognised nationally and globally. It involves first establishing the file formats of the accessioned records and then preserving the original digital objects using passive ‘bit level’ preservation; this ensures the secure storage and fundamental integrity of the record.

A regular assessment of the risk of digital records becoming unfit for presentation is made and should a format be identified as posing a risk, action to migrate records in that format (or to otherwise mitigate that risk) is taken. The National Archives will always maintain the original manifestation of the record as accessioned.

During the year, we took 2,998 snapshots of websites and social media accounts for the UK Government web archive (2,234 in 2018-19).

7b) Access Details of the records we hold can be obtained through our online catalogue, Discovery. All open records are available for viewing by members of the public and can be viewed free of charge on site at Kew or copies can be requested to be sent out for a fee. Digital copies of some of our open documents are also available for download from our online services – some may be downloaded free and some for a small fee. A brief registration process is required to consult original documents; however, this is not required to view surrogates or online copies of documents.

Access to the records is provided in a number of ways, both on site and online. Original documents on site are accessed by readers or staff under controlled conditions in accordance with nationally recognised and agreed standards. Our target is to retrieve documents held on site within 60 minutes of the request being made and we consistently perform favourably against this. For documents kept at our off site storage facility in Cheshire, documents requested are made available for on site viewing within three working days if ordered by 11:00.

Readers use the document reading room and the map and large document reading room to consult original documents. In some cases, valuable or fragile material may only be consulted under supervision either within the conservation studio or in the invigilation room. In instances where digital records are unsuitable for online presentation, they may only be viewed within the Digital Preservation department.

There are ongoing projects to catalogue more of our heritage assets, many using volunteers, to further improve access to records and we have a dedicated catalogue team responsible for this.

We closed our doors to the public on 17 March and to staff on 20 March 2020, in line with the UK Government’s advice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure will be reviewed on a rolling basis alongside future government advice. Access to the physical record will be restricted for the foreseeable future. While we are closed to the public, we are providing free digital downloads of records via Discovery, our online catalogue. 8. Trade receivables and other assets

| Amounts falling due within one year: | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |-------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Contract receivables | 230 | 1,534 | | Trade receivables | 1,005 | 1,826 | | Deposits and advances | 45 | 44 | | Accrued income | 1,380 | 979 | | Value Added Tax | - | 232 | | Contract assets | 749 | 910 | | Prepayments | 1,193 | 487 | | **Total receivables** | **4,602** | **6,012** |

| Amounts falling due after one year: | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |-------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Prepayments | 70 | 110 | | **Total receivables** | **4,672** | **6,122** |

The 2018-19 figures in the accounts have been amended to show a comparable classification. In last year’s accounts the figures for accrued income and contract assets were shown as £1.889m and £nil respectively.

9. Trade payables and other current liabilities

| Amounts falling due within one year: | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |-------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Other Taxation, Social Security and Pension | 974 | 812 | | Trade payables | 1,027 | 2,013 | | Accruals | 2,593 | 2,689 | | Deferred income | 425 | 48 | | Contract liabilities | 238 | 1,341 | | Short-term staff benefits (earned leave liability) | 828 | 751 | | Amounts issued from the Consolidated Fund for supply but not spent at year end | 10 | 10 | | **Total payables** | **6,095** | **7,664** |

| Amounts falling due after one year: | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |-------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Contract liabilities | 452 | 629 | | **Total payables** | **6,547** | **8,293** | 10. Provisions for liabilities and charges

The following table provides information on liabilities and charges on an onerous lease.

| | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |--------------------------------|---------|---------| | | £000 | £000 | | Balance at 1 April | 193 | 211 | | Provided in year | - | - | | Provision not required written back | 1 | (14) | | Provisions utilised in year | (13) | (4) | | **Balance as at 31 March** | **181** | **193** |

Amounts falling due

| | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | | | £000 | £000 | | Not later than one year | 14 | 14 | | Later than one year | 167 | 179 | | **Balance as at 31 March** | **181** | **193** |

The onerous lease relates to a vacation of office space within a government building in Norwich. The lease runs until December 2023. The provision is calculated by taking costs that will be incurred under the contract discounted by the HM Treasury discount rate of -0.51% and the HMT inflation rate of 1.90%.

11. Third party assets

The National Archives held short-term monetary assets valued at £17,789 on behalf of other government departments at the end of the reporting period (£82,371 at 31 March 2019).

| | 31 March 2019 | Gross inflows | Gross outflows | 31 March 2020 | |--------------------------------|---------------|---------------|----------------|---------------| | Assets held | 82 | 3 | 67 | 18 | 12. Lease and other commitments

12.1 Operating leases – The National Archives as lessor

*The Gazette* is managed by The National Archives under a concessionary contract whereby in return for letting the concession The National Archives receives a financial contribution. As from 1 January 2020, there are no longer contractual minimum lease contributions receivable. The amounts recoverable under the contract are as follows:

| | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |----------------------|---------|---------| | Not later than one year | - | 1,875 | | Later than one year and not later than five years | - | - | | Beyond five years | - | - |

12.2 Other financial commitments

The National Archives entered into non-cancellable contracts (which are not lease or PFI contracts) for a facilities management service and IT Services. The payments to which The National Archives is committed, analysed by the period during which the commitment expires are as follows:

| | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |----------------------|---------|---------| | Not later than one year | 1,569 | 1,648 | | Later than one year and not later than five years | 1,163 | 2,919 | | Beyond five years | - | - |

13. Financial instruments

As the cash requirements of The National Archives are met through the Estimates process, financial instruments play a more limited role in managing risk than would apply to a non-public sector body of a similar size. The majority of financial instruments relate to contracts to buy non-financial items in line with The National Archives’ expected purchase and usage requirements and The National Archives is therefore exposed to little credit or liquidity risk. 14. Contingent liabilities

There were no material contingent liabilities at the reporting date (2018-19: nil).

15. Related party transactions

The National Archives is a non-ministerial government department. Its parent department is the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The Chief Executive and Keeper reports to the Secretary of State. The National Archives has had a number of transactions with other government departments and other central government bodies, primarily UK Parliament, Office for Parliamentary Counsel, Scottish Parliament, Parliamentary Counsel Office Scotland and the Ministry of Justice.

Jeff James is the President of the Forum of National Archivists, a sub-forum of the International Council on Archives (ICA). He is also a member of the ICA Executive Board. Subscription to the ICA was paid to the sum of £17,526 (2018-19: £17,895). In the prior year, The National Archives reimbursed ICA for £98,210 for a seconded member of staff and charged £1,520 for a video streaming service. In the current year The National Archives were reimbursed £1,533 for expenditure incurred on speaker’s expenses.

Valerie Johnson was a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Business Archives Council until November 2019. Valerie Johnson pays her own individual subscription for Business Archives Council membership. During 2019-20, The National Archives paid an annual £55 institutional membership subscription fee (2018-19: £55) and a contribution to evaluation of Business Archives Strategy of £1,500 (2018-19: nil).

John Sheridan is a Director of the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and the DLM Forum, for and on behalf of The National Archives. The National Archives paid a membership fee of £9,360 (2018-19: £9,360) and £762 (2018-19: £787) respectively. The National Archives paid DPC £22,478 for development of digital preservation online learning resources (2018-19: £nil). In the prior year a sponsorship award was made to the DPC to the sum of £5,000.

Claire Feehily is a Trustee of the National Heritage Lottery Fund. Grants were received in year to the sum of £118,087 (2018-19: £153,202) and grant income is accrued to the sum of £241,567 (2018-19: £83,750).

There are no further outstanding balances owed to or owed from any of the above related party organisations.

The Remuneration Report (page 46) contains details of payments made to key personnel.

16. Events after the reporting period date

There have been no significant events after 31 March 2020 that require adjustment to, or disclosure in, the financial statements. These accounts have been authorised for issue by the Accounting Officer on the same date as the C&AG’s Audit Certificate. Sustainability accounting and reporting

2019-20 is the final year of the ‘Greening Government Commitments 2016 to 2020’. This report presents an overview of The National Archives’ activities during the 2019-20 financial year, our progress against the revised Greening Government Commitments targets, and our plans for the next financial year 2020-21.

This report was prepared in accordance with HM Treasury’s ‘Public sector annual reports: sustainability reporting guidance 2019-20’. Further information is available on our website.

Our approach

Governance and reporting Our key sustainability targets are summarised within business plans and performance is regularly reviewed throughout the year. We are committed to meeting, and exceeding where practical, the Greening Government Commitments. Our Executive Team reviews our sustainability performance regularly. Our Board and Audit and Risk Committee review our sustainability performance, ensuring that progress is scrutinised and challenged where appropriate.

We are an active participant in sharing best practice and benefiting from lessons learnt from other departments, and from private and public sector organisations. We have worked with the National Museums Directors Council (NMDC) this year to share good practices and examples of engagement with employees and visitors in particular. This has focused on communicating current activities and seeking support from visitors. This work will continue throughout the coming year and beyond.

Data accuracy We review and seek to improve our data gathering and reporting processes each year. Although we attempt to minimise estimation, this is used where it is not practical to obtain exact figures. Changes to estimation processes will also be explained.

This year the data accounting dashboards were fully utilised to continually improve data quality with additional opportunities to enhance data accuracy:

- Following the travel dashboard being updated, travel data is now available directly from the travel providers as raw data to allow for greater interrogation.
- The relevant dashboards have been updated with the current emissions and conversions factors.
- This year IT asset disposal has been performed by a different provider. A full review of the operations and disposal processes will take place in 2020-21.

______________________________________________________________________

34 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greening-government-commitments-2016-to-2020 35 nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/transparency/ In 2020-21, the use of an automated platform to improve reporting and analytics is being reviewed which will be particularly important in setting and meeting the next set of targets.

**Our sustainability strategy and targets**

As a non-ministerial government department, we work to achieve the Greening Government Commitments – a set of targets and outcomes that together help ensure that central government meets its vision for sustainability.

In many cases, these targets have already been achieved, and we have set more challenging internal targets and will continue to do so, striving to reduce our environmental impacts. Our environmental management system is built on sustainability and encourages continual improvement.

We translated the 2018-19 environmental goals and targets into a short infographic and shared it across the organisation to engage and promote the progress to date into simple messages. This has proven to be successful and we will provide the same for the 2019-20 information.

In 2019-20, we continued to review our operations in line with the applicable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting how we contribute to these Goals and to help inform forward strategy. Our attention continues to focus on those that align closely to our strategic goals and where we would have most impact.

| SDG | Progress during 2019-20 | Focus for 2020-21 | |-----|-------------------------|------------------| | SDG 3. Good Health & Wellbeing | ■ Continual focus on awareness through Green Champions Network | ■ Improved wellbeing\
■ Visitor engagement and awareness | | SDG 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth | ■ Digitisation programme | ■ Social Value and raising awareness | | SDG 11. Sustainable Cities & Communities | ■ Local heritage | ■ Visitor engagement and awareness | | SDG 12. Responsible Consumption and Production | ■ Circular economy approach applied to products, procurement. Social Value report | ■ Visitor engagement and resource efficiency\
■ Supply chain involvement | | SDG 13. Climate Action | ■ Continued focus on emissions reduction | ■ Awareness and visitor engagement\
■ Continued emissions reduction | | SDG 15. Life on Land | ■ Continued promotion of biodiversity interests and the ponds on site | ■ Biodiversity surveys\
■ Further signage for staff and visitor engagement | Progress against each of these areas is captured within the sections below and forms a key part of the Green Champions Network to engage employees and highlight areas of opportunities both in the workplace and at home. The objectives of this Network are to reinforce and embed environmental initiatives, improve internal knowledge sharing, and promote employee engagement for environmental and efficiency projects.

The aim of this programme is to promote the ethos within the environmental management system to all staff. Positive environmental outcomes that resulted from successfully implementing sustainable behaviours will be promoted, aiming to encourage staff to embed these behaviours further. It will also aim to give positive feedback to staff and show that their efforts to improve sustainability performance are valued.

**Meeting the Greening Government Commitments**

Progress has been strong in the final year of reporting against the revised Greening Government Commitments (GGC) targets, building on the progress made last year.

| Indicator | GGC target (2019-20) | The National Archives’ target (2019-20) | The National Archives’ target baseline year | Change against the baseline 2019-20 (+/-%) | Change compared with 2018-19 (+/- %) | |----------------------------------|----------------------|----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------| | Greenhouse gas emissions | -32% | -65% | 2009-10 | -74% | 12% | | Operational waste | | | | | | | Less than 10% waste to landfill | | Zero waste to landfill | 2010-11 | 0% | 0% | | Reduce waste generation | -30%\* | | 2010-11 | -51% | -11% | | Increase recycling rate | | Increase recycling rate | 2010-11 | -0.4% | +14% | | Paper | -50% | -50% | 2010-11 | -62% | -15% | | Water | | Reduce water consumption | | | | | Domestic flights taken | -30% | -30% | 2009-10 | -77% | -10.5% |

- We our own target for waste reduction beyond the previous 25% Greening Government Commitment (GGC) target against the 2009-10 baseline, to aspire towards 30% reduction in waste generated. 2019-20 performance Performance in 2019-20 has continued the previous trend for carbon, energy and waste.

For any indicators that have increased, we continue to strive for improvement.

| Indicator | 2019-20 | 2019-20 per FTE employee | 2018-19 | 2018-19 per FTE employee | |------------------------------------------------|---------|--------------------------|---------|--------------------------| | Greenhouse gas emissions – scopes 1-3 (tonnes CO₂e) | 2,105 | 4.2 | 2,400 | 4.9 | | Energy used (MWh) | 8,542 | 17.2 | 8,993 | 18.6 | | Waste produced\* (tonnes) | 83 | 0.17 | 96 | 0.2 | | Water used (m³) | 17,462 | 35.1 | 18,514 | 38.3 | | Domestic flights taken | 21 | 0.04 | 19 | 0.04 |

- Excludes one-off construction and refurbishment projects waste, to enable meaningful comparison.

Greenhouse gas emissions The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) set an emissions reduction target for 2020 of 63% against the 2009-10 baseline. We went further by setting an internal target of 65% for this period.

Our greenhouse gas emissions associated with building energy use and domestic business travel in the 2019-20 financial year were 2,105 tonnes. This represents a 74% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions against the baseline 2009-10 financial year figures and a 13% reduction on the previous year’s emissions.

| Indicator | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |------------------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Greenhouse gas emissions (tonnes CO₂e) | | | | Gross emissions for scope 1 and 2 | 1,959 | 2,225 | | Gross emissions for scope 3 | 146 | 175 | The quantity of emissions associated with each unit of electricity consumed has reduced by 47% since the 2009-10 baseline year, and we reduced emissions by 77.5% over the same time. Overall, total energy consumption has reduced by 5% in comparison to the same period last year and by 56% since the baseline.

Improvements in the air quality of the occupied space continue to be reviewed with a proposal for utilising and integrating CO₂ monitoring sensors within the Building Management System (BMS). This has stalled in part due to COVID-19 and the resulting government-set restrictions. There is an intent to complete this improvement in 2020-21.

The capital programme to replace the boilers is in progress, also delayed in part due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional energy projects implemented this year include the continued LED roll out into back of house areas with motion sensors with ongoing refresh of LED lights into staff areas in 2020-21.

Although business travel remains a relatively small contributor to our overall emissions, it has also reduced by 16% when comparing the same period to last year. In 2019-20, we performed an internal transport audit to highlight further potential reductions in emissions and where improvements in data quality can be made. International air travel was also reviewed to understand the impacts of travel extending beyond the domestic activities. An average of 11 flights per quarter took place with annual greenhouse gas emissions of 87.3T CO₂e.

Procurement is continuing to review GPC usage for general business travel, which will improve the granularity of data available improving our ability to determine emissions factors and the accuracy of the data. We continue to avoid unnecessary business travel and have a general approach of promoting travel by public transport rather than car, and train rather than plane. The promotion of software and technology as a means of engagement has allowed for a dramatic reduction in domestic flights. This change in approach of engagement and the commercial need has helped further reduce emissions this year. During the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, we are taking a pragmatic, safety-first approach to all forms of travel.

This year we have continued to review our wellbeing programme. The initial stage reviewed the provision of facilities and services to develop a baseline of wellbeing performance and highlight areas for improvements which continued to be developed in 2019-20.

**Waste minimisation and management**

Our waste targets, baselined to 2010-11, are to reduce the total quantity of waste we produce, to increase our recycling rate, and to send less than 10% of our waste to landfill. We also have a target to reduce paper consumption by 50%.

We have produced a total of 86 tonnes of general and recycling waste this year, in comparison to the 2010-11 baseline of 174.9 tonnes. No operational waste has been sent to landfill in 2019-20. Overall average monthly waste production has reduced by 51% since 2009-10 and 11% since last year.

| Indicator | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |------------------------------------------------|---------|---------| | **Operational waste (tonnes)** | | | | Total | 86 | 96 | | Recycled and reused | 55 | 54 | | Energy from waste incineration | 24 | 36 | | Food and catering: anaerobic digestion | 7 | 6 | | Composted | 0 | 0 | | Landfill | 0 | 0 | | **Construction and refurbishment projects waste (tonnes)** | | | | Total | 8 | 7.36 | | Recycled and reused | 4 | 2.6 | | Landfill | 4 | 4.76 | Operational waste expenditure (£)\*

| | Total | £28,081 | |--------------------------|--------|---------| | Recycled and reused | 5,187 | £2,302 | | Energy from waste | 7,558 | £11,934 | | incineration | | | | Food and catering: | 1,655 | £1,742 | | anaerobic digestion | | | | Landfill | 0 | £0 |

- Spend data obtained from our Facilities Management contract provider. Total includes the cost of storage and containment.

^ Project waste volumes have been estimated for the roof and boilers projects undertaken this year.

This overall reduction in waste reflects changes that have taken place across departments. This has been facilitated by a focus on employee behaviour change measures through a waste roadshow and champions to improve knowledge of recycling.

The proportion of waste being recycled this financial year was 64.6%; while this is higher than last year; it is slightly less than the proportion achieved throughout 2010-11 (65%). This is partially an impact of reducing waste overall and the significant reductions in paper, with the energy from waste incineration falling primarily. In 2019-20 opportunities to further reduce non-recyclable waste were targeted, such as the rolling out of reusable cups to teams, and gaining a better understanding of how catering waste could lead to initiatives to divert more to recycling waste streams. The use of rice husk cups targeted the issue of coffee cups contaminating waste streams and the waste roadshow raised more awareness in this area.

In 2019-20, the Green Champions Network held regular meetings with a series of key areas promoted to engage employees. This included waste awareness and biodiversity surveys to improve knowledge both on and off site. Further programmes will be developed in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. Infographics have been used on the staff intranet to highlight positive environmental outcomes from changes in behaviour at The National Archives, such as waste management, and articles published in the staff magazine about biodiversity.

In 2020-21 we will focus further on visitor engagement and will aim to remove plastic water bottles and move away from plastic takeaway cartons. We will work with our catering supplier to promote locally sourced food sources and implement healthier eating plans and reduce food waste.

We held the ‘Waste Roadshow’ in November raising awareness through the green champions network to encourage staff to engage in planned activities. The week-long events covered issues such as prevention with a stationary amnesty, reuse focusing on the removal of single use cups and recycling with a visit from the waste contractor.

In 2019-20, through the Green Champions Network, initiatives were put in place to promote behaviour change to reduce waste generation. In 2020-21 we will produce further advice and training programmes for our staff, supporting them to adapt their activities where practicable. This will help to reduce the amount of waste generated overall. In addition, we will also look specifically at waste materials that are not recycled and work with the supply chain and the waste contractors to investigate how this can be improved. In 2020-21 we will carry out an employee survey, including sustainability questions, to further assess employee awareness of environmental issues such as waste and drive further behaviour change.

**Use of finite resources**

| Indicator | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | |----------------------------|---------|---------| | Water consumption (m³) | 17,462 | 18,514 | | Water supply costs (£) | 39,710 | 33,261 | | Paper use: (reams A4 eq.) | 1,697 | 2,006 |

We have a target to reduce overall water consumption from 2009-10 levels.

The quantity of water consumed by our estate this financial year was 17,462m³. This is a reduction of 6% on the quantity consumed in the same period last year (18,514m³), and the consumption is 30% lower than that recorded in 2009-10.

Our paper consumption stands at the equivalent of 1697 standard reams of A4 paper – 15% less than last year, and 62% less than 2010-11. The continual digitising of records will further reduce paper consumption along with printing restrictions in place.

**Sustainable procurement**

We continue to align our procurement to the Crown Commercial Service frameworks and seek to consider opportunities of the creation of social and environmental value through our procurement, rather than focusing solely on economic factors.

- Following guidance on sustainable procurement and the circular economy: the procurement policy will be reviewed, strategic projects on waste reduction are being considered, and Government Procurement Card usage is continuing to be addressed with a further focus on travel use.

- Our contract for catering services with Grayson’s Restaurants and their approach to procuring and disposing products is also being reviewed.

- Contractors within the Facilities Management supply chain have been reviewed to identify where additional environment or social benefits risk can be provided. In 2020-21, these opportunities to The National Archives will be developed further.

We continue to embed Social Value into its culture, having carried out a detailed review to understand what social value means for the organisation and where we can best support and provide benefits within local communities.

In 2020-21, we will engage our strategic suppliers to take forward the programme with a view to implementing activities to improve the social value in the communities that we operate within. Biodiversity Our site is an important ecosystem for birds, bees, small mammals, and other invertebrates. It has significant biodiversity value, which positively impact its attractiveness as a destination, the wellbeing of employees, and its relationships with local stakeholders.

This is the third year of regular biodiversity surveys. That means meaningful year-on-year comparisons can be made to create recommendations for improvement. The engagement of the ‘green champions’ in biodiversity last year has been increasingly successful and we aim to continue to encourage involvement of interested staff. The final survey of 2019-20 was not carried out due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2019-20 we worked to develop our existing relationship with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Last year we designed new planting on the site to encourage a greater range of biodiversity including a meadow and new planters. New signage is planned across the site to highlight biodiversity features to employees, visitors and in particular to children.

Climate change adaptation The greatest risks climate change poses for our operations and local area are from flooding and temperature extremes.

The flood risk assessment has been updated following the London Port Authority and Environment Agency remedial activities carried out last year to strengthen and improve flood defences. This, together with the recent revision to UK climate modelling, has brought the risks of future flooding events up to date. The assessment concluded that our building is at low risk of flooding from surface water, sewer and tidal flooding, with medium risk at the site boundary.

Sustainable Construction In addition to the roof refurbishment project and the boiler and combined heat and power (CHP) upgrade that started this year, we also continued to progress our building master plan with the commencement of the construction of two embedded learning spaces due for completion next year. A key component of the tender exercise for this project was a clear and measurable commitment to reducing the environmental impact for the project. This included the project being managed through a site-specific environmental plan. Advisory Council on National Records and Archives

17th Annual Report 2019-20 To the Right Honourable Oliver Dowden CBE MP Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (‘DCMS’).

Part One – Introduction

Background The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives (the ‘Council’) is an independent advisory body, created under the Public Records Act 1958 and exercising statutory functions under that Act. It advises the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (the ‘Secretary of State’) on issues relating to access to public records. It also carries out duties under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Through its sub-committee, the Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research (the ‘Forum’), the Council also advises the Chief Executive of The National Archives and Keeper of Public Records on matters relating to independent (non-governmental) archives outside the public records system.

The Council’s and the Forum’s respective remits are described in more detail in Appendix A and membership details are included in Appendix B.

Part Two – The Advisory Council’s work in 2019-20

Membership Following a successful recruitment campaign, seven new members were appointed to the Council in October 2019:

Mr Stephen Hawker Mr Martin Howard

Professor Phillip Johnson Professor Leon Litvack Ms Helene Pantelli Mr David Rossington Mr Martin Uden

This brings the total membership to seventeen.

Meetings The Council held four meetings in May, July and November 2019 and in February 2020, together with an additional training meeting in September, at which a number of helpful and informative presentations were given, including from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the challenges of dealing with digital sensitivity selection, review and transfer, and the Information Commissioner’s Office on its work.

Council meetings were attended by members, as well as by Jeff James, The National Archives’ Chief Executive and Keeper of Public Records. Other representatives from The National Archives who possess particular expertise relating to the issues considered by the Council also participated, as necessary. The Ministry of Defence and the Metropolitan Police Service both attended meetings during the year.

Closure of records under the Freedom of Information Act The core of the work of the Council is to:

1. act on behalf of the Secretary of State, in advising public record-transferring bodies on the consideration of the public interest in relation to engaged qualified exemptions as defined in the FOIA, when a record is at the point of transfer to The National Archives. The Council may respond to applications by such bodies for records (in whole or in part as appropriate) to be transferred closed by:

a. accepting that the information may be withheld for longer than 20 years and earmarking the records for release or re-review at the date identified by the authority;

b. accepting that the information may be withheld for longer than 20 years but asking the authority to reconsider the proposed date for release or re-review;

c. questioning the basis on which it is considered that the information may be withheld for longer than 20 years, asking the authority to reconsider the case, and, exceptionally, to request sight of the record;

d. advising departmental ministers against the application of an FOI exemption in a particular case when, following thorough examination of the department’s rationale, it judges the balance of public interest to be against closure.

2. providing advice to the Secretary of State when a public record-transferring body has made an application to retain records that are 20 years old, which would otherwise be transferred to The National Archives. The Secretary of State signals approval for retention for the specified period by signing a Retention Instrument.

Given the very large volume of applications placed before it, the Council works on the basis of summaries prepared by departments and scrutinised by The National Archives. The Council will ask for more details and question apparent weaknesses in the arguments for closure until it is satisfied; or until the department withdraws or modifies the request. Occasionally, the Council may request that one of its members sees the full record. Further information on how the Council scrutinises and challenges the applications it receives is available on the Council’s website: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-role/advisory-council.

In 2019-20, the Council considered 5,778 applications for closure from departments (a similar figure to 2018-19). The Council queried 16% of applications for the transfer of records closed under qualified (i.e. not absolute) exemptions. This figure compares with 13.5% in 2018-19. In general, departments are providing fuller explanations to support their applications than in previous years which the Council has found helpful, but as the figures show, there are still a significant proportion that the Council has required further clarification, and in the case of 23 records, departments withdrew their applications in response to the Council’s challenge.

In 2019-20, the Council considered 878 individual records which departments had applied to retain (a reduction from 970 in Change to 2018-19). The Council queried 11.5% of these (5.5% in Change to 2018-19), and departments withdrew five applications in response to the Council’s challenge. The Secretary of State has accepted the Council’s advice on every application considered this year.

Detailed metrics are at Appendix C.

In a new development, sub-groups of the Council met in April and October at The National Archives to examine a small sample of the records which the Council had previously agreed should be closed under the usual application process. The purpose of this examination was to provide assurance to the Council that the summaries of the records on which the Council had reached its views on the applications accurately described the records. The process was informative for Council members and provided an opportunity to offer feedback to departments.

The Advisory Council’s procedures and processes The Council, through its working group, has participated fully in wider government work to revise the Code of Practice under Section 46 of FOIA, in particular to ensure that the Code clearly reflects the Council’s statutory responsibilities. The review also seeks to ensure that it fits the modern digital working environment and provides an accessible framework setting out how relevant authorities should manage information to support appropriate public access now and in the future. The draft Code should be available for public consultation later this year.

Engagement with departments The Ministry of Defence (MoD) attended the July meeting to provide an update on an outstanding issue regarding the review of a large number of Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and Nuclear decommissioning Authority (NDA) records held at The National Archives. The MoD had requested the return of these records from public access for the purpose of review. The Council had requested more detailed information on the reason for removal, review process and timescales. A number of updates were provided during the year and staff from the Government Audience Department at The National Archives worked with MoD to resolve issues. Council also engaged with the MoD reviewers during the process. Most of the issues have now been resolved, however the Council invited the department to attend the May meeting to provide assurance around the timescales and further clarification on the process.

Building on outreach work done by The National Archives, the Council is now better sighted and able to scrutinise the records management of Arm’s Length Bodies and other organisations which are ‘Places of Deposit’ (for historic records) in their own right. This enables the Council to encourage strategic approaches to record transfers and to ensure compliance with the legislation, including for retention cover for historic documents.

Review backlogs This year, the Council considered a larger than usual number of requests from departments relating to the management of review backlogs or where retention is sought for administrative purposes, in relation to documents which are not selected for permanent preservation. A smaller number of cases relate to records which have been selected for permanent preservation.

The Council received such retention applications from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; the Department for International Development; the Home Office; the Ministry of Defence (Guards and Service Personnel); the Ministry of Justice; the Northern Ireland Office; the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; HM Treasury; the Department for Transport; the Department for Work & Pensions; the Department of Health & Social Care; the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government; Cabinet Office; Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills; Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; Tate; The Royal Parks; UK Debt Management Office; the Welsh Government; Royal Mail Group and Post Office Ltd; the Environment Agency; the Food Standards Agency; Health & Safety Executive; HM Land Registry; Historic Royal Palaces; Metropolitan Police Service; Natural England; Office for National Statistics; Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service; the Insolvency Service; The Crown Prosecution Service; Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; Natural Resources Wales; Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science; Competition and Markets Authority and Metrological Office.

Some departments made more than one such application during the period. Generally, a period of one or two years was sought. In a small number of cases, three to six years was requested.

The outcome of these applications was as follows:

- For 34 of these requests, the Council was content to recommend to the Secretary of State that permission be given to the relevant organisation to retain its legacy records for the period requested.
- In five cases, the recommendation was that the department be granted a lesser retention period than requested.
- In two cases, the organisations were asked to attend the relevant Council meeting in person to provide a more detailed justification and timetable before a recommendation to the Secretary of State could be made.
- In the remaining cases, the Council was content to recommend to the Secretary of State that permission be given to the relevant organisation to retain its legacy records for the period requested, but asked for written updates to be provided, to ensure that departmental records management projects remained on track.

The Council also considered update papers from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Animal & Plant Health Agency; The National Archives; the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Ministry of Justice; Department for Education; Home Office; Ministry of Defence; Charity Commission; HM Revenue and Customs; and the Competition and Markets Authority.

**FOI panels**

The Council acts on behalf of the Secretary of State, to consider the balance of the public interest in the release or non-disclosure of information contained in transferred historical records that engage qualified exemptions (only), when an application has been made to The National Archives under section 66 of FOIA for the disclosure of information held by it. The Council exercises this responsibility through the convening of panels of three members to consider up to 20 requests at a time.

**Metrics**

During the financial year 2019-20, 26 panels were convened, with 514 cases being considered. Panels substantively challenged 62 of these, or 12% of the total.

Having been provided with more detail, in most cases the panels were able to accept departments’ arguments for continuing to apply public interest based exemptions. However, 6 applications (1%) were withdrawn by departments following panel scrutiny, with two records being opened in full:

- Panel 11 – Case 20: Removal of Section 38 exemption (information remained closed under S40)
- Panel 12 – Case 15: Removal of Section 38 exemption (information remained closed under S40)
- Panel 16 – Case 3: Removal of Section 27 as material in the public domain. Exemption withdrawn; information released Panel 19B – Case 2: Panel challenged Section 27. Application was withdrawn pending reconsideration of the sensitivities of the file in consultation with FCO

Panel 19B – Case 7: Removal of Section 27. File remains closed under absolute exemption

Panel 20 – Case 18: Removal of Section 27(1). Exemption withdrawn; information released

- Overall, sections 27 (international relations) and 38 of FOIA (health and safety) were both the most challenged exemptions, and the most frequently applied for.

- Council noted the relevance and overlap between qualified and absolute exemptions applied to the same record (i.e. Section 27(2) and Section 41).

- There were a number of questions around determining prejudice and the threshold for specific cases – i.e. the degree of harm to individuals for Section 38 cases and mental endangerment.

- Council regularly reiterated the importance of quality assurance to applications for clarity to ensure cases are progressed without unnecessary challenge.

Process The FOI panel process is explained in more detail in Appendix D. As in previous years, the majority of FOI requests for closed records sought access to criminal case files, usually relating to historic murder cases. In these instances, the Council is typically called upon to balance the public interest in release against the potential distress which might be caused to victims or their relatives, or (in the case of unsolved crimes) to the risk to the successful prosecution of perpetrators in the future.

Other issues As part of the Council's broader advisory remit with regard to The National Archives, the Council has received a regular quarterly report from the Chief Executive and Keeper with regard to issues facing The National Archives and about its activities. These reports have been reviewed by the Council at its quarterly meetings. During the year the Council also reviewed and discussed proposals for a trial of a revised document ordering process intended to be introduced at the Kew site.

Part Three – The Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research

Background The Forum, in its capacity as a sub-committee of the Council, provides a means through which the Chief Executive of The National Archives, in his capacity as Historical Manuscripts Commissioner, can seek advice on historical manuscripts in independent (i.e. non-governmental) archives. It also facilitates discussion of academic research issues and programmes managed by The National Archives.

Membership The Forum is chaired by the Master of the Rolls. Ms Hillary Bauer, OBE currently acts as Deputy Chair.

Three other members of the Council, all of whom have expertise in academic research and/or knowledge and experience of private archives, and two independent members currently serve as members of the Forum. A further recruitment process for an additional independent member was conducted in April 2019, but was unsuccessful.

Meetings Meetings of the Forum are attended by members and by the Chief Executive and other staff from The National Archives.

The Forum met three times during the period covered by this report, in September and December 2019 and in March 2020. It expects to hold at least three further meetings during 2019-20, at which it will focus on its agreed strategic priorities. These priorities have been reviewed during the year and the Forum has agreed four clear priorities for the next 12 months:

- Cross-cutting issues with museums and libraries
- Digital challenges
- Threats to the archive sector
- Raising awareness of the Forum and its work

More detailed objectives within these priorities have been identified and a Skills Audit is being undertaken to highlight the specific skills and experience of members to help inform the overall strategy and objectives discussions.

During the period, the Forum continued to:

- discuss and advise on the work of the Research and Academic Engagement and the Archive Sector Development teams at The National Archives;
- engage with the digital teams at The National Archives to learn more about the challenges of digital material and discuss how these challenges might be addressed, especially in relation to independent archives and the wider sector;
- advise and assist The National Archives regarding the events surrounding the 150th anniversary of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, specifically an evening event at the House of Lords for key stakeholders, and a symposium at The National Archives.

**Other business**

In addition, the Forum has considered seven cases dealing with the acceptance by the government of private archives in lieu of the payment of a tax liability under the provisions of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984.

**Part Four – Looking Ahead**

Looking ahead to 2020-21, the biggest challenge will be the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the end-to-end process of selecting, reviewing and transferring records to The National Archives. At the time of writing there is much uncertainty about when normal working practices will be able to be resumed, and how new working practices can be adopted to mitigate current constraints. The Council stands ready to play its part through being flexible and innovative in enabling this important activity to continue as far as possible.

**The Right Honourable Sir Terence Etherton**

*The Master of the Rolls*

*June 2020* Annex A – The Remit of the Council and the Forum

Part One – The Council

Background The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives was established by the Public Records Act 1958 (‘PRA’) and is a non-departmental public body. It is chaired by the Master of the Rolls, The Right Honourable Sir Terence Etherton, who was appointed with effect from 3 October 2016.

The role of the Council The Council is to consider and advise on matters including:

- applications from departments for the retention within those departments of public records beyond the age of 20 years, when those selected for permanent preservation are normally transferred to The National Archives;
- the balance of the public interest in relation to applications from departments for the extended closure of historical public records and other ‘matters relating to the application of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘FOI Act’) to information contained in public records that are historical records within the meaning of Part VI of that Act’;
- the balance of the public interest in the release or non-disclosure of historical records, an application for the disclosure of which has been made under the FOIA; and
- the preservation of public records in places of deposit and facilities for public access to them.

Requests under FOIA in accordance with the third bullet point are dealt with through the FOI panel process, which is described in Annex D below.

In addition, the Council may be required to advise on:

- major objectives, programmes and policy changes for The National Archives;
- proposed legislation affecting The National Archives;
- the implications for records and public services of any proposed change to the status of The National Archives; and/or
- any subject brought to its attention by the Secretary of State.

As its name suggests, the Council’s role is advisory. Accordingly, the Council does not:

- make the final decision as to:
  - when they become historical, records are transferred to The National Archives closed; nor
  - when a closed record is reviewed after transfer, it should remain closed as these decisions lie with the department whose records they are;
- make the final decision on whether a record can be retained by a department. This decision is made by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport;
- advise on departments’ retention of records under the Security and Retention Instrument 2011; nor
- review departments’ decisions on the selection of their records for permanent preservation.

This falls under the remit of the Keeper of Public Records. Part Two – The Forum The Council’s responsibility relating to historical manuscripts (private archives) is discharged through the work of its sub-committee, the Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research. The Forum advises the Keeper of Public Records in his capacity as Historical Manuscripts Commissioner. The Forum considers and provides advice to the Secretary of State through the Council on matters relating to manuscripts, records and archives, other than public records, and particularly:

- the location, collection, care, custody, preservation, acquisition, sale, and use in all formats of such documents;
- the compilation and dissemination of information about them;
- any questions affecting such documents as may be referred for its consideration, including issues relating to the statutory duties of the Master of the Rolls in respect of manorial and tithe documents, and the making of recommendations to Arts Council England on the allocation of archives and manuscripts accepted for the nation in lieu of tax; and
- other issues that would formerly have come within the terms of reference of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

In addition, on behalf of the Council, the Forum is to:

- act as a vehicle for the development of constructive and collaborative engagement between The National Archives and its academic stakeholders, sharing knowledge and developing trust and understanding; and
- provide an open, independent and authoritative advisory voice to The National Archives, to support its research and academic liaison. Annex B – Membership

Part One – The Council The Master of the Rolls chairs the Advisory Council. The Master of the Rolls was originally responsible for the safe keeping of charters, patents and records of important court judgments. Today he is President of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) and Head of Civil Justice. The current Master of the Rolls is the Right Honourable Sir Terence Etherton.

The Deputy Chair is Mr Trevor Woolley CB.

During the period covered by this report seven new Council members were appointed.

Lady Moira Andrews, Director, Praetor Legal Ltd and ADS Group Ltd; Visiting Research Fellow, King’s College London; former Government Legal Adviser.

Ms Hillary Bauer, OBE, adviser on culture and heritage issues; Board Member of Towner Gallery Eastbourne and of Ben Uri Museum and Gallery; Trustee of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars.

Ms Liz Copper, BBC Senior Broadcast Journalist.

Ms Lesley Ferguson, Head of Archives and Engagement, Historic Environment Scotland.

Dr Helen Forde, historian and archivist; formerly board member of the Museums and Libraries Association; Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Postal Museum; Vice President of the Society of Antiquaries.

Dr Peter Gooderham, CMG, former Ambassador to the UN and WTO in Geneva.

Mr Michael Smyth CBE QC (Hon), Member Legal Services Board and Fundraising Regulator; former Head of Government Practice, Clifford Chance.

Ms Jeannette Strickland, independent archive and records consultant; formerly Head of Art, Archives and Records Management, Unilever.

Mr John Wood, solicitor; Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) Independent Member; formerly Charity Commission for England and Wales Legal Board Member and Board Consultant; formerly Herbert Smith Freehills, Partner, then Consultant.

Mr Stephen Hawker, independent national security consultant; independent member of the Audit Committee of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Martin Howard CB, retired senior security official specialising in cyber and intelligence security policy and operations. Appointed Companion of the Bath.

Professor Phillip Johnson, barrister; Professor of Commercial Law at Cardiff University; published numerous books and articles on law and legal political history.

Professor Leon Litvack, Professor of Victorian Studies at the Queen's University of Belfast; specialist on Charles Dickens; board member of the Charles Dickens Museum; board member of National Museums Northern Ireland; freelance broadcaster for the BBC.

Ms Helene Pantelli, solicitor specialising in commercial law; ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman

David Rossington CB, former civil servant; Vice Chair and Treasurer of Stoll; Treasurer of Earth Trust; Trustee at the Oxfordshire Community Foundation; Trustee of Arts at the Old Fire Station. Martin Uden, former Ambassador in Seoul; International Partnerships Adviser at Queen Mary University of London; Trustee of a Christian mission charity; Chairman of the British Korean Society; President of the British Korean War Veterans’ Society; published author.

Trevor Woolley CB, non-executive director, Oil and Pipelines Agency; formerly Director General, Ministry of Defence, who also acts as Deputy Chair of the Council.

The position of Secretary to the Council is currently vacant.

Part Two – The Forum The Master of the Rolls chairs the Forum.

Council members Ms Hillary Bauer, OBE (the current Deputy Chair), Ms Lesley Ferguson, Dr Helen Forde, Ms Jeannette Strickland and Professor Leon Litvack sit on the Forum, together with the following independent members:

Ms Adele Redhead, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, where she leads the MSc in Information Management and Preservation. She is a qualified archivist and has extensive experience in archives and records information management in a variety of sectors. She is a member of the Scottish Catholic Heritage Commission.

Ms Jenny Shaw, the Collections Development Manager for the Wellcome Collection, where she is responsible for setting the collecting direction across formats, including archives. She previously worked as an archivist at the British Red Cross and BT Heritage.

The Chief Executive of The National Archives is also a member of the Forum, on an ex officio basis, as the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner.

The position of Secretary to the Forum is currently vacant. Annex C – Metrics

Key statistics relating to applications considered by the Council are set out below.

Closure of Records

- In 2019-20, 72,899 (2018-19, 69,974) government records were accessioned at The National Archives.

- 60,707 or 83.3% (2018-19, 61,145 or 87.4%) of these records were transferred open in full or partially closed and can be viewed at The National Archives by any member of the public who has a reader’s ticket.

- 6,923, or 9.5% (2018-19, 4,658 or 6.7%) of these records were transferred closed, after departmental applications to do so had been scrutinised by the Council.

- 5,197, or 7.1% (2018-19, 4,084 or 5.9%) of these records were retained in full by the relevant department.

- The remaining 72 were transferred as ‘number not used’. (NB: This tag is used where a gap is identified in The National Archives’ sequential catalogue numbering system. This might occur if, for example, a duplicate record is discovered. To avoid a laborious renumbering process, the relevant record number is shown in the catalogue as ‘unused’.)

- The number of closure applications submitted to the Council decreased this year to 5,778, compared with 5,843 in 2018-19 (and 5,974 in 2017-18). Around 53% of these applications engaged only absolute exemptions and so were not subject to a public interest test. Of these, the vast majority involved personal information about private individuals; personal information may be protected from release by data protection legislation. In considering applications to close records to the public, the Council focuses on those that invoke exemptions subject to a public interest test. The most common exemptions claimed concern of damage to international relations and risks to the health or safety of individuals.

Retention

This year, the Council considered 878 retention applications, compared with 970 in 2018-19.

Applications considered

Overall, there was a decrease of 2% in the number of applications compared with 2018-19, but this still represents an increase of 32% on 2014-15.

The following table sets out key metrics for 2019-2020, as compared with previous years: | | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19\* | 2019-20 | |--------------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------|----------|---------| | **Closure applications** | | | | | | | | Applications considered | 4,250 | 4,435 | 4,290 | 5,974 | 5,843 | 5,778 | | Applications queried | 181 | 480 | 465\*\* | 410\*\* | 387 | 487 | | Applications where clarification was received and accepted | 105 | 340 | 173 (232) | 122 | 162 (157+1+4 recalculated) | 194 | | Applications that were amended by departments and accepted\*\*\* | 67 | 126 | 247 (218) | 209 ½\*\*\*\* | 208 (183+24,+1 recalculated) | 173 | | Applications withdrawn by departments following challenge by the Council | 9 | 14 | 44 (34) | 32½\*\*\* (31 ½\*\*\* + 1 outstanding query withdrawn) | 17 (13+4) | 23 | | **Outstanding closure applications at March 2020**\* | | | | 0 (1 resolved) | 0 (37 but recalculated as 29 entries on the proforma, all resolved) | 97 | | **Retention applications** | | | | | | | | Applications considered | 793 | 952 | 986 | 1,432 | 970 | 878 | | Applications queried | 28 | 44 | 108 (116) | 125 | 52 | 76 | | Applications where clarification was received and accepted | 21 | 28 | 39 (41) | 32 | 20 | 25 | | Applications that were amended by departments and accepted | 4 | 12 | 57½ (39) | 79 | 25 (19+6) | 18 | | Applications withdrawn by departments following challenge by the Council | 3 | 4 | 11½ (26) | 14 | 6 (4+2) | 5 | | **Outstanding retention applications at March 2020**\* | | | | | 1 (9-8 resolved) | 28 | A number of queried cases remained unresolved at the end of the period covered by this report and will be carried forward. At the same time, the unresolved queries from the previous period have been included in this report.

One application for 2016-17 was never resolved, see the section in this report called Access to Public Records. There were 46 closure applications queried in 2017-18 that were not resolved through the query process but resubmitted on a new schedule.

These include cases where in response to Council challenge, departments withdrew applications for the use of particular exemptions, but the record was transferred closed under another (agreed) exemption.

The figure of ½ referred to reflects the fact that the relevant application covered two records and the application in respect of one of these was withdrawn.

Annex D – the FOI panel process

The Council’s FOI panel process The Council is responsible for advising the Secretary of State on the application of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘FOIA’) to historical public records.

Records retained by departments and those closed at transfer to The National Archives remain subject to the FOIA and individuals can make a request under FOIA (an ‘FOI request’) to have access to them.

When The National Archives receives a FOI request for access to closed information held by it, it follows the procedure set out in Part VI of FOIA. Under these provisions, before a request can be refused on the grounds of a qualified exemption, the Secretary of State must be consulted. The Council will assess the public interest test, which is necessary before such an exemption can be applied. This test is applied to determine, whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in refusing access to the information in the record.

For this purpose, panels of three Council members are convened to consider the public interest in the release or non-disclosure of the requested information. (The Council has no advisory role when a request is to be refused citing only absolute exemptions.)

In most cases, the FOI request concerns information closed at transfer on the grounds that it was information:

- that, if released, would endanger the safety or physical or mental health of an individual;
- that, if released, would damage international relations; or
- relating to law enforcement. Cases are carefully scrutinised and debated by panels on the basis of a fresh assessment by the department of the arguments for and against disclosure, taking account of any change in circumstances since the access status of the record was last considered.

If they consider it necessary, panel members will request further detail or clarification from the relevant department or The National Archives. Even where they are in agreement that the public interest in closure outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption, members of the panel may also raise concerns about departmental practices and draw attention to inconsistencies between departments in their handling of FOI requests. Annual Report of the Independent Complaints Reviewer 2019-20

In April 2018, The National Archives appointed ch&i associates to act as its Independent Complaints Reviewer (ICR). We are delighted to present our second annual report as ICR for The National Archives.

The ICR service is free to complainants and offers an independent review of complaints that The National Archives has been unable to resolve itself. Our role is:

- To provide judgements as to whether The National Archives has provided good or reasonable service consistent with its policies and procedures and in line with its stated standards and practices and other widely accepted principles of good practice.

- To determine whether there have been any deficiencies in the service provided to the customer (whether constituting, or falling short of, maladministration) that call for attention.

- To recommend proportionate and fitting remedies where service standards have fallen below an acceptable standard.

ch&i associates is run by Jon Wigmore and Alex Oram, both of whom have extensive experience of complaint handling and investigations. They currently also act as the ICR (or equivalent) for other bodies, including the Department for Transport, the General Medical Council and the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

Overview of complaint activity and The National Archives’ learning from complaints and customer feedback

The National Archives sets itself high service delivery standards and has an ambitious complaints process that aims to ensure that customer feedback, however defined and expressed, improves service delivery and puts things right for people. The National Archives’ commitments and principles here are spelled out in its Policy for handling comments and complaints. This emphasises simplicity of access, clarity, timeliness and fairness.

During 2018-19, we carried out a review of the performance of The National Archives’ complaint handling function against both its own internal policies and targets, and best practice. We found not only that The National Archives delivers a ‘gold standard’ complaints service; but that it commits a substantial amount of energy into getting it right first time. Perhaps for this reason, The National Archives has reduced the number of complaints received by almost half (dropping from 56 to 30). While a reduction in complaints cannot on its own be equated to an improvement in service, it has occurred alongside an increase in compliments (rising from 79 to 83).

The number of complaints received must also be seen in the context of The National Archives’ relatively high level of transaction. This year, The National Archives produced 508,284 documents and dealt with more than 23,000 telephone enquiries and 27,582 written enquiries. The number of telephone enquiries has reduced significantly over the last year, perhaps because the online ‘live chat’ function has proved so popular (approaching 14,000 contacts). There was a decrease generally in the numbers of direct customer feedback received by The National Archives via its more traditional routes. This year though has seen The National Archives adopt its Trip Advisor and Google Reviews to ensure that it can engage directly with customers via those popular platforms.

As we approach the end of our second year in the role of ICR, only one complainant has asked for an ICR review and none have taken a complaint to the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The complaint that we reviewed concerned the application of a contract between The National Archives and an organisation to whom a licence had been granted to digitise microfilm of historic records that it had already acquired. While the review concluded that all of the complainant’s original concerns had been fully addressed by The National Archives by the time his complaint reached us, we were of the view that this took The National Archives too long and that it should have apologised for failing to get it right the first time. We were very impressed with The National Archives’ response to what was a minor criticism, with staff up to and including the Chief Executive and Keeper demonstrating a real determination to ensure that lessons were learned.

Contact the ICR

Details of the ICR service can be found at

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/contact-us/complaints-procedure/

ch&i associates ltd 253 Park Lane Macclesfield SK11 8AA

Telephone number: +44 (0)3301331492

Email: enquiries@chi-assoc.com

## Appendix of Local places of deposit who received New Burdens Funding 2019-20

| Nottinghamshire Archives | London Metropolitan Archives | |--------------------------|-----------------------------| | Bristol Archives | Bromley Historic Collections| | Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service | Liverpool Record Office | | Berkshire Record Office | St Helens Local History & Archives | | Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies | Birmingham Archives & Collections | | Cambridgeshire Archives (including Huntingdon) | Sandwell Community History and Archives Service | | Cheshire Archives & Local Studies | Norfolk Record Office | | Teesside Archives | Northumberland Archives | | Cumbria Archive Service (all) | Oxfordshire History Centre | | Derbyshire Record Office | Staffordshire Record Office | | Devon Heritage Centre | Suffolk Record Office (all) | | Dorset History Centre | Surrey History Centre | | Durham County Record Office | East Sussex Record Office | | Essex Record Office | West Sussex Record Office | | Gloucestershire Archives | Tyne and Wear Archives | | Hampshire Record Office | Wiltshire and Swindon Archives | | Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service | North Yorkshire County Record Office | | Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies | Doncaster Archives | | Kent History and Library Centre | Sheffield City Archives | | Lancashire Archives | West Yorkshire Archive Service | | Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland | Glamorgan Archives | | | Gwent Archives |